Reign Supreme
by Don Orbit
Summary: After growing to hate mankind for what the humanity had become and what it had down to him, a player landed in another world. However, how will things turn out when he not only encounters the humanity in this world, but also of his own world that he had grown to hate so much? And both are ready for war.
1. Prologue

**Hello everyone. I'm Don Orbit and welcome to this Overlord/Gate crossover. This story's basic idea of an evil overlord was a request by another author, so I can't take full credit for this. Still, since a story can't simply be a skeleton and needs some content I'm willing to accept this challenge as well. So far my Overlord OCs have been rather good People. Now let's take a look from the perspective of someone who is downright evil. As for my it has been already a challenge to make this OC. But enough talk for now. Let's begin with the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Overlord or Gate. Overlord belongs to Kugane Maruyama.** **Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri belongs to Takumi Yanai.**

* * *

Reign Supreme

Prologue - Arrival

* * *

From space the planet Earth looked far different from what it used to look like when Homo sapiens appeared on the world for the first time. The last Ice Age came to an end, the human conquered land, sea and sky with his wits and intelligence and managed to fight his place to the top of the global food chain.

However, this came with a big prize that had been the planet itself. The oceans were no longer bodies of clear blue water, but brown dirty muck that was filled with garbage. The skies were constantly filled with black smog where only once in a while a lightning illuminated the skies for just the parts of a second. The once gentlle hills and meadows, the dense evergreen forests, even the white snowy mountains had to make place to the habitat of the human in form of gigantic cities. Skyscrapers stood everywhere with dozens of floors and underground levels like a mockery to the once massive trees that stood in their place. The fluids that rained down on this world were highly corrosive and were highly toxic to most organisms. It disolved the concrete the buildings were made of, destroyed any life that was unprotected and poisoned the ground, making it impossible for plant life to grow ever again. It was as if the planet had understood that the beings it had brought forth had done this to it and now it mobilised all These powers to wipe itself clean from the creatures that had done this to it. But the human being not only intelligent, but also very thick-headed simply continued as it pleased. It knew that the world wouldn't be able to support life much longer and that it couldn't do a damn to reverse the process or even to slow it down. All it could do was to fight for it's right to live and to exist in this wasteland it had built.

In midst of this labyrinth of roads, streets and buildings lived now the human in millions of billions of individuals like a massive bee hive. The streets were overcrowded almost making it impossible for people to move from Point A to Point B. The massive buildings that stood in the center of the city were mostly occupied by companies, while most workers lived further away from the center. While the ones in power had more than enough of everything, the majority of the population lived in conditions that were an Insult to the human rights, if those hadn't been disabled many years ago. The human life was in this society was much worth as that of an ant that one accidentaly stepped on.

And such conditions are the perfect fertile soil for crimes. The gangs and thieves dominated the parts of the cities that were not controlled by police forces and whenever the rich people on top of the hierachy clashed they simply sendt their troops to attack the lower population. Services like hacking, stealing or assassination were well payed by the rich, but it never changed the condtions the people lived in. They were just the cattle, that worked for them day and night until one died by the exhaustion.

In their desperate attempt to flee from this reality most people fled into virtual realities of video games. The most popular game was the Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game known as YGGDRASIL. It conquered the hearths of every gamer when it was released in 2126.

YGGDRASIL was an open world fantasy RPG with 9 different worlds the player could explore. With 300 different races the player could chose from the game was truly a master piece of a video game. Those were the conditions for a truly great game with an unlimited number of possibilities. In YGGDRASIL a guild could conquer a dungeon and make it their base by defeating the last boss monster of the dungeon, before creating a guild item that would represent the guild. When the Guild Item would be destroyed the guild would automatically be disbanded and the dungeon would return to it's original state. However when conquered a dungeon could be freely customized by the players. With real life money additional floors could be added to the dungeon while layout, traps, even the monsters and NPCs of the dungeon could be customized as well. This was one of YGGDRASIL's key Features, an almost unlimited number of customization possibilities.  
Cash Items could be purchased via tombola and were paid with real life money, which was something only few could afford. Items of course could also be customized at the player's free will. With it's nine different worlds and open world mechanics the game had more content and freedom than any other game. Players could join together in guilds and clans to achieve their goals together or just follow their dreams on their own.

However, 12 years later in the year 2138 the servers were shut down at midnight. All players, that stayed until the very end of the game, couldn't even imagine what would await them at this very moment.

* * *

 _Alfheimr_

 _Time: 22:16:40_

Alfheimr was a world in YGGDRASIL that was mostly dominated by human players. In the norse mythology it was the home of the elves. In midst of a lush jungle in this world stood a majestic palace made of stone that could remind an onlooker with enough education of an ancient indian city like the Long destroyed Ankor Wat. Dark stone walls gave the palace an even more imposing in the jungle. A large vermillion banner of a white bow and arrow decorated the front of the castle. However inside of this castle a merciless battle took place. On the 3rd and last floor was an entire battalion of robed mages and steel clad Knights fighting against a far superior enemy.

"Attack with all you got. He can't have that much HP anymore!" Someone yelled as alll kinds of magic projectiles flew through the air and exploded not far from the Group as the Knights had risen their shield to cover the mages. The attack had kicked up a lot of dust, making it impossible to tell if they had won or not. In the next Moment however a stream of black flames flooded the corridor as the fire swallowed the defenders. They cried out in pain before their HP dropped to Zero and their bodies disappeared. The sole survivor was a Knight in sky blue armor with a cape on his back and a crown shaped helmet to indicate that he was the leader.

"What the hell?! We attacked you with everything. Your HP should have dropped to zero by now. You are cheating." He said as he took a step back. A deep voice chuckled in the corridor as two red eyes shone in the darkness.

"Cheating? Someone like me doesn't need to do that. I'm simply better than a bunch of knight wanna-bes like you. And as for my HP, well what can I say? You never heard of [False Life Data] did you?" It said. [False Life Data] was a spell that gave an opponent wrong informations about a player's or an NPC's HP. The blue knight ran away through the corridor as the voice simply stayed where it was.

' _Dammit, we cannot win against that guy. I Need to bring IT at least into safety._ ' The blue knight desperately thought as he ran, but in the next moment another collum of dark flames crashed into his back. Tumbling he fell to the ground as he only saw a massive shadow towering over him. "Why the hell are you doing this? We didn't do a Thing to you!" The blue knight said, trying to reason with the creature above him.

"No you didn't. But that didn't stop you from doing the same to others now, did it? I guess I'll have to show you where lowly creatures like you stand." It said.

"Oh god no. Please no!" Were the knight's last words as a massive clawed hand crushed the man like an insect. The hand withdrew back into the darkness as the red eyes shifted further into the corridor.

"Such a disappointment. In the end you were nothing, but a coward, that hid behind his subordinates without really having any power. Now then to the spoils of war. Let's hope the information was correct." It said chuckling as it marched forward. Shortly the base of one of YGGDRASIL's PK guilds from Alfheimr was erased from existence.

* * *

 _Nidavellir_

 _Time 23:53:26_

The realm of Nidavellir was one of the nine worlds in the game YGGDRASIL. The landscape was mostly made of dark rocks and mountains. Only a few rivers cut through the stone and formed a few waterfalls when they streamed down a cliff. The Vegetation of this place was very short and most Monsters were either of subterrean nature or should blend in with the environment. In this desolation was a dungeon. It was a big ruin of an old stronghold with high walls and destroyed watch towers. On top of the walls stood gargoyles still like statues and knight looking golems were integrated into the walls as both decoration and defensive meassures against invaders. However the fortress might have a narrow entrance and strong defenses, but it was still not impossible for a larger Party of 25 Players with good teamwork to get inside the fortress. The building itself was merely the gate, which leads into the deeper floors into the dungeon itself. The dungeon was called The Vanguard's Loss implying a story from the lore of the game about an order of defenders that tried to hold off the Devourer of the Nine Realms at this point, but failed miserably.

The fortress ruins, however, were still a formidable stronghold, especially after a guild took over the dungeon as their base. Vanguard's Loss had 5 different floors. Each resembled another biome and generated other monsters than the other floors. This made it more difficult for invaders to overcome the defenses of Vanguard's Loss. Still the guild that had conquered this dungeon had always been made out of only one member.

* * *

 _5th floor of Vanguard's Loss_

A single individual wandered through a long hallway as it's red eyes scanned the corridor for anything disturbing. The hallway was completely made of massive alabaster while at the furniture had been made of ebony. Only large candeliers emitted light in the hallway as they hung from the ceiling. A few pictures with different motives hung on the walls and filled a little the emptiness, however each showed one of the fantastic landscapes of YGGDRASIL. Beautiful and majestic castles of Asgard, erupting volcanoes of Muspelheim and lush jungles of Vanaheim decorated the walls in golden frames with gems, making the hallway look more lively and more luxurious. The creature that stalked the corridor was dragon with a size of about 4 meters. The body was covered with jet black scales. Razor sharp claws were it's fingers and toes. Both hands had five sharp claws as fingers as the feet had only three toes. A long tail was balancing the body and with another 4 meters in length. On top of a long neck sat the short reptilian head with red eyes looking around, while the jaws were filled with sharp teeth. Long thin spikes grew along the spine of the dragon as they were the longest at his shoulder blades' height. A pair of metallic silver jagged blades sat on the back next to the long spikes. All in all the dragon looked like a vicious creature that could tear any opponent into bits with it's natural arsenal.

"Ah yes. This is good. And finished." It said to itself as it kept walking through the corridor as it placed a picture of a desert with a large temple that was already half sunk in the sand on the wall, though it's mouth wasn't moving. This dragon was a game avatar of a YGGDRASIL player known under the name Erebos. Erebos was one of the very few heteromorphic players, that managed to reach Level 100 without the help of other people. He had fought his way up to the top of the ranks of the players and even had become the World Champion of Nidavellir. The reason for this solitary playing style was simply the result of his real life. As he arrived at a large door at the end of the hallway he pushed them open. He had arrived in a room fitting for a ruler. It was a massive room with a giant stone throne at the end on top of a platform with an height of more than 25 meters. The room was unlike the corridor outside made of obsidian, which reflected the light of the lamps on the smooth surface. A long red carpet lead towards the throne from it down to the stairs of the platform it stood upon. At the sides of the throne stood massive statues of armored knights with each at least 10 meters high. Those were also golems like the ones up on the surface. ' _Welp took long enough to build all of this. Time to enjoy it._ ' Nhazat thought as he walked to the throne. He had started as a simple dragon player like everyone, however instead of looking for allies to not get PKed after the first minute, he went out into the world of YGGDRASIL on his own. Slowly he gained levels and became a formidable foe for every player he came across. Then 2 years ago, he took part in the World Tournament of Nidavellir. It was a hard and long fight, but in the end he overcame the former World Champion as well and took his title. However after that he had been tailed by more PKers and they attacked more often for a few weeks. Erebos had always avoided the direct confrontation with the other players and had remained alive for years thanks to it. He only formed the guild Tartarus with some heteromorphic players in exchange to a Divine Class Item and protection for a certain amount of time until those guys left the 'guild' when they reached level 100 on their own. Together they conquered this dungeon and Erebos made it the fortress it was tonight while supporting the others to reach Level 100 as well. It was not sad at all. It was simply buisness for Erebos. One side requested something, the other side delivered it and got something in return. He didn' even remembered their names anymore.  
Afterwards he mainly focused on adding more things to Vanguard's Loss and put everything he had gained in this game into this project. Erebos had arrived in front of the throne and sat down on it as he looked at the empty throne room. This was his own little kingdom with him as the sole ruler. It was his memento of himself in this world that so many people had left by now. He had sought solitude and now he had managed to achieve it togehter with other things like wealth, infamous and other things on the way.

"A shame really. If I had more time I'd go to Asgard again and wipe the ground with those PKers again. Or I'd get back to the raid of the world eater. That would be fun to beat it up again. Oh well, there's hopefully a YGGDRASIL 2 coming up before I die. Still something seems to be missing here." Erebos thought loud. "Oh right I don't have any servants to serve me right now. Normally the king would be alone, but he would also hold meetings wouldn't he?" He said. In real life Erebos was not more than a simple gangster and former mercenary. In all his life he had been encountered with people that pushed him around like they wanted and even hurt him to the point where his own sanity ceased to work. In a world in which he lived that was nothing rare. It was a dog eat dog world and one could always get killed out of some lowly reason. Nazah himself had grown up in a ghetto as his parents died as he was still at young age. Growing up on the street with many gangs of criminals, that would confront one with stealing, drug dealing and murder day by day wasn't the best way to grow up. People like him were the real victims of this twisted world's order. As a teenager Erebos had grown far more aggressive and was under constant stress due the fact that he had to work in multiple Jobs. Later he had been part of a street gang, that dominated the area he was living in, next to having a job in an office. The illegal buisness in the Underground made life a bit easier for Erebos. A few years later he was simply appointed to go to the army by some rich fat pig to take care of some rival. On the battlefield all of that didn't matter as grenades tore his comrades apart and bullets rained down upon his battalion. Only his instinct to survive had saved him in those days. He simply slaughtered his opponents without beating an eye. After the rival of his employer had bitten the dust by a sniper 3 years after the conflict broke out, he was able to get out of his ghetto and moved further into the city and from then on worked in an office, while also being put under medical observation due his most likely damaged mentality, though his past had made him alreadey psychotic and with that he had no new trauma. Still it was a potential threat to the ones in command. Erebos could track down a person and kill it with no regrets. It was for him like stepping on a cockroach. In revenge for what the fat rich pig he had worked for put him through he leaked Informations to the polices, that damaged the image of the company so greatly that his former boss was imprisoned. After it he had to search for a new employer, but when he had found one it was just like the first bastard he had worked for. Since then he had mostly worked day and night. He could only blame the world and gouvernment for what he had become, but he didn't really held big feelings for the people around him or anyone in general. He had himself and that was more than enough in such a twisted world.

That's why Erebos liked to be in this world. Here it didn't matter much how many people you killed or out of what reason you did. It was just a game. After beginning with YGGDRASIL 5 years ago Erebos felt some kind of relief whenever he entered the digital plane of existence. Here he could be anything he wanted and even a part of his rational thinking became better after this. Still in real life he remained a cold blooded killer. No matter how much he wanted to stay here he couldn't stay in this game forever. And all of this was going to end in less than 5 minutes. He had chosen the dragon race for a couple of reasons. One of them was the large variety of dragons in all different kinds of mythologies. Also dragons were a symbol of many things. Wealth, divinity, calamity, terror and most importantly for Erebos power. Also when dragons were an available race to play in a fantasy game it was just natural for Erebos to pick one for himself. However due the fact that there was no penality for killing a heteromorph player, there were only few heteromorph players at all. For Erebos this was rubbish. Why making so many possibilities when the player couldn't enjoy it. He had worked hard to get where he was now and no one could take that away from him. Not even the PKers that tried to do that not Long ago. It was almost scary how fast some news spread. Still, merciless as he was in real life he simply killed everyone who challenged him. After a few times the PKers had learned from their mistakes and eventually gave up as he was an opponent that couldn't be easily defeated. But some of them couldn't learn, so Erebos simply went over to their guilds and destroyed them.

Erebos chuckled at the memory of him killing an army of those guys as he summoned a console in front of him to look at the NPCs he had created to keep this place safe when he wasn't in-game. He browsed through the NPCs names that he had created, before checking their positions inside the dungeon. All of them had still full health and they were at their appointed positions. That was a very important factor if a guild of players would try to attack Vanguard's Loss. Erebos might not be a passionate roleplayer like other YGGDRASIL players, but he was an experienced mercenary and therefore was a very organised person. For each NPC he made a personality that was mostly depending on the role within Vanguard's Loss. On top of the hierachy was him of course and below him the NPCs in a hierachy that was also a critical factor for their level and class design. Sighing to himself Erebbos as everything was fine. He dismissed the console and opened his inventory as he brought out the guild weapon. It was a massive battleaxe. It's cruel looking blade glowed with a dark red aura and several violet glowing runes decorated the handle of the weapon, while blue glowing lines were running over the blade like circiuts. On the opposite side of the blade were several spikes. This [Executioner's Bane] was Erebos' strongest weapon and extremely solid. It enhanced the wielders stats and gave it a resistance against slashing weapons. A very handy weapon, however it would be too risky to use it now in battle.

"If I go then I'll go with style at least." The dragon said as thought about what he had created. When he conquered the ruins the dungeon was rather easy to beat. The ruins resembled mostly an old cellar that would only change into a stalgamite cave at the 4rth floor before facing the endboss Janus, the roman god of the beginning and the end at the 5th floor. Before he had altered this dungeon a temple was where now walked. It had been fun for the dragon to fight the two-faced god. Then he suddenly thought about the fact that until now he wore nothing. Normally it was impossible for avatars to be like that and the game at least gave them underwear ince the game didn't allow nudity, however heteromorphic races that even naked didn't look perverted or didn't show any private parts were exceptions such as insects, slimes or dragons. However in his case armor was rather unnecesarry because he used a lot of data crystals to increase his own defense. "Well I leave this world as I entered it." Erebos said shaking the thought out of his head he remained sitting on his throne as he changed his size. The once 4 meter tall dragon grew to a size that matched the size of the throne, making it look much more suitable for the dragon. The Guild Item had grown as well to the size of Erebos as well. All items in YGGDRASIL changed their size so it fit the one who wore it or used it. A giant could wear the armor of a dwarf and a human the armor of an amorphous creature as well. "I actually made it in a weird way, given the fact that this is still a video game. I've a strong fortress as a home, created a lot of NPCs to serve me, tons of gold and items stuffed in a massive vault and even became a World Champion. Too bad it is going to end so soon. I wonder what life would have been if it had been like this a bit earlier. Well tomorrow will be another horrible day." Erebos said as looked at the clock. It read 23:59:43. For some reason however he had an uncomfortable feeling in his chest. ' _Damn it really has been a long time since I felt actually sad about something. At least it was worth it._ ' Erebos thought as he smiled inwardly. He couldn't help but close his eyes for a moment as mental and physical exhaustion slowly took over his mind.

23:59:57

23:59:58

23:59:59

00:00:00

00:00:01

00:00:02

"Huh?" Erebos said as he was suddenly awake and still sitting in the throne room of Vanguard's Loss. Also his HUD had suddenly vanished from his view. "What's this? Did the devs made something right for once and delayed the shutdown?" He said as he stood up. Then he froze. "What the?" The dragon looked down at his feet as he felt the carpet under his feet. There was nothing else to see. He tried to move his toes and the digits indeed moved. Even more suprising, he felt how the carpet shifted beneath his foot with each movement he made. "Now that's interesting." Erebos said as he looked at the clawed hand of his avatar, however he felt it when he clenched his fingers. He felt how his mouth moved and his tongue touched the sharp teeth. He could even feel the tail that was attached to him at his coccyx. He walked out of the room while still remaining in his large form as his mind started to run in circles. ' _Seriously what the heck? What's with this? Why the hell can I feel my avatar's movements and why does it feels like the most normal thing that is? This doens't makes any sense!_ ' Erebos shouted at himself mentally as he reached the door that lead outside of the labyrinth of hallways.

He was greeted with a sight that he did expected but it still stunned the dragon. The place where he had been until now was a castle that was built into the wall of the dungeon itself. The real dungeon was outside and was basically a massive underground stalagmite cave with a great lake with about 30-40 meters depth at the end. The entrance of the castle was buildt on a small ledge of rock with a staircase leading down to the body of water. The water reflected the light of the crystals that illuminated the room from the ceiling. In the distance the entrance of this room was visible as well. The massive lake was filled with monsters that attacked any enemy that dared to enter the water. This security meassure kept outsiders out from the castle and was for most YGGDRASIL players an hinderance that was difficult to overcome. Even a flying player like an angel or a birdman couldn't simply fly over, because a monster could still attack from below. Erebos thought of it as a creative idea to test his opponent's wits, but it was also a very pleasing sight for his eyes. He himself could simply cross the lake however even then he would need to pass through the rest of the 5th floor of the Vanguard's Loss.

"Ah there you are Erebos-sama." A voice tore the dragon out of his daydream. He turned around and found himself face to face with a hooded figure. A black mantle hid the person's face and features perfectly. Not even the feet were visible as it looked at him. The voice was deep, but not threating or angry. In contrary it was very respectful towards Erebos as the figure kneeled to him. Erebos was however in total shock as he looked at the person in front of him. Not because he had no idea who this person was, but because he knew very good who and what that was. This was Charon, a dullahan, that Erebos had created as a caretaker of the castle and strategist for the case of role playing.

"I see you are here as well...Charon-san." Erebos said as he looked at his creation.

"Where else should I be Erebos-sama?" Charon asked as he looked up to the dragon. Feeling uncomfortable with the NPC staring at him like this Erebos tried to change the subject.

"Have you not felt anything?" Erebos asked.

"Felt anything? Forgive me Erebos-sama for my lack of knowledge, but has something happened? Are we under attack or did an assassin try to attack you?" Charon asked now in a slightly worried tone.

"No. It's nothing like that. However I have the nagging feeling that something might have changed. Charon, I'll head directly to the entrance of Vanguard's Loss. Stay here and inform me about anything that happened. Bring the guardian generals to the throne room. I wish to speak with them within one hour. Place Caitlyn at the entrance so nothing enters or leaves the dungeon without permission." Erebos said. Charon bowed in respect to this.

"As you wish." The hodded undead said before walking off. Erebos sighed at himself as he couldn't help, but grin like a child in a candy store, before shaking his head.

' _Well I created all the NPCs so they all should be obidient._ ' he thought as he looked at the lake in front of him. Unconciously the pair of wings on his back unfolded itself. The massive blades on his back were the wings as the patagium was as dark as his scales. Both wings were as big as Erebos himself and had a long wingspan to lift his body up into the air. Erebos looked at both extra appendages for a moment before shrugging metally to himself. "Alright. That's neat." He said as he took flight into the night sky. He tried to navigate in mid air, but unintentionally he suddenly stopped in mid air or changed course. He even nearly crashed with full speed into the water below if he didn't pull up again. It was basically like someone who never had sit behind a steering wheel trying to drive a car. "Maybe with some practice I can figure this out on my own." Erebos said as he landed on the ground on the other side of the lake and walked deeper into the cave. However after a few meters he had already to crouch down to fit in the narrow tunnels, before being forced to walk on all fours to fit inside the tunnels, even after he reduced his size back to just 7 meters. And he hadn't even got much closer to the point where he could go to the 4rth floor. ' _Alright that won't get me anywhere. Luckily I made a shortcut for such moments._ ' He thought as he crawled out of the cave again back to the lake as he spread his wings once more. Erebos took off and spotted a tunnel over the lake in the wall, big enough for him to fly through. It was a shortcut to the floor above. As he flew in the corridor the temperature started to drop and the rocky ground slowly was replaced with ice. The 4th floor of Vanguard's Loss was a tundra and therefore a very cold place. Erebos could already see the light at the end of the tunnel as he slowed down before he left the tunnel. Snowflakes hit him all over the body and his body was embraced by the cold winter air. He looked around into the seemingly endless fields of snow and ice. So far he couldn't make anything out in this winter wonder land safe for the hole he had come from.

' _Never thought it would be so cold in reality inside of this fridge, but somehow I don't feel that cold as I should._ ' Erebos thought as he made his way to the next shaf. Those shafts connected the floors with one another and served Erebos as a way to travel faster between the different floors. As he however found the second shaft he got an idea. Erebos was a more a warrior type player than a spellcaster but he could use a few basic spells he had learned just for the case that a physical damage alone may not be the key to defeat an opponent. "So how do I cast a spell? Maybe like this? [Teleportation]." Erebos said as he disappeared in a bright flash of light.

* * *

 _Vanguard's Loss, Entrance_

With a loud thud the dragon landed flat on his stomach as he arrived at the entrance of the dungeon. He clearly wasn't used to this kind of travelling yet as he had not teleported directly on the ground of the room, but about 2 meters above it. This height had already been enough for him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Groaning he lifted his body from the ground again as he looked around. The entrance of the dungeon was beneath Vanguard's Loss and were connected through a tunnel that lead from the medieval looking castle into this short cave like tunnel into the first floor, which happened to be behind Erebos, who was more interested in what laid ahead. So far everything seemed to be normal, but in a game where even a simple corridor could be littered with traps and a world, where the next alley could be the place where you died Erebos was very careful. With his eyes he simply saw through the darkness around him like it was daytime. Apparantly a perk of being a dragon.

"Seems like the dungeon has remained unchanged." Erebos said to himself as he walked up to the surface. Soon he arrived at the door inside the destroyed castle. The roof of the fortress was still intact however the furniture inside was damaged very badly. A staircase that lead upwards was destroyed, everywhere laid the debris of smashed wooden furniture and stone and an old torn piece of cloth hung above the entrance, where once had been a banner. Erebos however cared little for this as it had been part of the dungeon and he couldn't remove it as it had been a game or hadn't bothered to do so as he had been busy to organise the deeper floors of the dungeon. He walked over to the massive gate of the fortress and opened it. The sight in front of him made him swallow as he saw the landscape in front of him. Gone was the desolated landscape of Nidavellir. Instead he saw a lot of trees as the ruins of the castle stood now in a clearing of a forest. Even with his height he couldn't see the end ofthe forest. The cool night air gently flew through the air as Erebos tried to figure out what had happened. He looked upwards and saw more stars than ever before in his entire life. Since the sky was constantly filled with black smog he had seen the sun a few times, but because of his living place he had never seen real stars before. At the sight of this clear night sky he unconciously reached out with his hand as if he could grab the stars, before closing his hand to a fist. Erebos looked at his fist for a moment. "This is..." He said as he suddenly sensed a presence behind him. "Who is there?" he hissed as he turned around.

Behind him stood a figure in a white dress. On top of it's shoulder long platinum blonde hair sat a black bow resembling the ears of a cat. However here the similarities to a human ended. The face was covered with a steel mask with only one big red glowing eye on the left side of the face. This was Caitlyn, an automaton designed for two simple tasks: search and destroy. She kneeled to Erebos and lowered her head.

"Please forgive me Erebos-sama." She said a monotone voice. "I didn't mean to upset you." Erebos stood there for a moment before sighing to himself.

"It's fine. I just wanted to take a look at our surroundings before the meeting starts." Erebos said as he turned his back on the much smaller human sized automaton. He then spread his wings as he heard the automaton speak up again.

"Erebos-sama. You should not go alone. We don't know what These strange lands have in store for us. Someone of us should accompany you." She said. Though her voice was as emotionless as a voice could ever be heard a hint of concern in it. The dragon sighed at this. She wasn't entirely wrong. Many flying YGGDRASIL Players had met their end multiple times because of being to careless when flying. Long range weapons and spells could still hit the dragon and he had no idea what could be in this world.

"Fine, you will come with me." Erebos said as he reached out with his hand towards the automaton. Caitlyn let herself getting grabbed as held her with both hands and took off. The automaton and the dragon quickly ascended from the ground into the night sky. Erebos flew higher and higher as they finally came to an halt. He looked down at Vanguard's loss which stood in the small clearing of a large forest. In the distance he could see the forest getting replaced by plains. In the back of the castle stood high mountains which were beneath the dragon now as well. Behind the mountains he could make out plains and grasslands. Erebos kept looking down at the world below. Everything seemed so meaningless in this moment as he literally stood over all other things.

"Is everything alright Erebos-sama?" Caitlyn asked, tearing him out of his thoughts.

"Not at all. I don't recognise any of the landmarks. This is not Midgard or Vanaheim. We are somewhere far away from there." Erebos said. "Still this is a really nice place. Would be fun to explore all of this and then the stars beyond." He said as he looked up into the star filled sky again. "From here it seems to be so easy to reach out for them, but they are still too far away from my grasp." He chuckled as he slowly flew back to the ground. "I cannot wait to see what this place has in store for us. For now let''s go back."

"As you wish, Erebos-sama." Caitlyn said. Both of them finally flew back in front of the ruins as put her down again.

"I'll meet with the others at the 5th floor. You are on guarding duy for tonight. Make sure nothing takes notice of this place. And stay inside the fortress. I don't want you to attract unnecesarry attention from something." Erebos said as he walked inside the ruin. Holding the gate open he let Caitlyn in before the gate closed itself. "You know your orders. Make sure that nothing sentient that can tell a story about this place gets away. It would be good if you could catch them alive and bring them to the interogation room to get more informations about this place." He said looking down at Caitlyn.

"I understand Erebos-sama." Caitlyn said. Erebos turned around to take his leave as he stopped after a few steps and turned back to the automaton.

"Alive doesn't mean unharmed. And remember this well Caitlyn. I will not tolerate failure." Erebos said. Caitlyn's red eye seemed to glow a bit more intensive at this order.

"Understood." she said as she remained inside the ruins as Erebos walked back into the dungeon.

* * *

 _One hour later_

As Erebos sat on his throne he waited patiently for his guardians to arrive. Meanwhile all different kinds of thoughts ran through his brain.

' _Seriously what the hell is going on? This is far too real to be a game. Could it be that I've died in my apartment when the server shutdown somehow managed to fry my brain? If that is truly the case I really don't want to wake up right now. I finally managed to get away from that hellhole. Hopefully none of the cops followed me here, but under which excuse would they want to arrest me anyway? I'm free for crying out loud! And on top of that my avatar has become my new body. I think I just hit the jackpot. Though being a dragon is quite weird to be honest._ ' He thought. ' _Guess I'll have to get used to wings and a tail then. But this isn't so bad to be honest. I have the dungeon and my NPCs so far are all obidient. I guess now they are expecting me to be their leader. Geez, leading People is something I'm not very good at. But isn't that what I wanted? A kingdom for me alone to rule? Or perhaps that was just me getting too much into the game. But there are too many questions not cleared yet.' Erebos thought. 'Was I the only one who got in this world? If not, who got here as well? Where are they and what are they doing? I should Keep an eye open for those if they appear to got here as well. What lives in this world and could it get dangerous for Vanguard's Loss? So far I've no idea this world at all. I can actually use magic and probably the over ranked magic as well, but I should test that out at another time. What about my other NPCs? Will they behave like programmed Caitlyn and Charon? God why must all of this be so complicated? I wish I could slam someone a knife in the head. I thought I actually could do now how I-_ ' In that moment a knocking at the door got Erebos' attention. "Who's there?" He asked out of instinct in a stern tone. He had already experienced it once when the own soldiers opened the door to a knocking without checking first. The result was a troop of 7 of them dead and an entire bunker lost. To take it back took the lifes of 3 other civilians he didn't cared about back then nor did he do now.

"It is me Erebos-sama. I've brought the generals like you ordered." Charon said from the other side. Erebos sighed at this.

' _I'm growing even more paranoid than before. Well better safe than being cut into pieces._ ' He thought sweat dropping. "Enter." Erebos said as the gate opened and revealed five of his subordinates. One of them was Charon who walked in the front, but he was easily overlooked as the four generals walked in behind him. The four generals were four dragon NPCs, who were based on the european elemental spectrum of air, earth, fire and water. Each was about the same height as Erebos in his current form as he looked at each of his creations with slight interest. The first one was Gaia, an earth dragon. Her lizard-like body had no wings and was covered with brown scales, making her scales look like made of massive moving boulder. Rock-like horns where at the back side of her head and ran along her back, adding natural camouflage to the massive dragon. Ruby-like eyes looked at Nahat as she walked towards the throne and stopped several meters in front of it. Due her quadroped body she appeared smaller than the other dragons. The second dragon was Vulcanus, obviously a fire dragon. His body was mostly red in color at his lower side and his limbs while the upper side of his body was covered by black spiky scales. He also had a large black horn on his forehead and a pair of large red wings. Without them he would look in Erebos' opinion like a version of Godzilla before melting down. It would be fitting since he was unlike Gaia walking on his hind legs. The third dragon was Kymopoleia, an ice dragon, whose body was completely covered with blueish white scales. She had no horns or spikes across her body as her scales were plain and smooth. She was a little shorter than Vulcanus, but still an huge dragon by human standards. The fourth and last dragon was called Aeolus, a serpentine dragon with lime green scales. A pair of wings sat on the back as the limbs were quite short in comparison to the other dragons and his own body as a pterosaur-like horn grew from the back of his head. A row of Spikes grew along the spine while at the end of his tail thorns like those of a stegosaurus sat. In front of those four dragons kneeled Charon. His head was lowered to the ground like the other NPCs did.

"Erebos-sama. The four guardian generals of Vanguard's Loss have been assembled." He said.

"Well done Charon. You can stay here as well. The result conversation will determine the course of our further actions." Erebos said as the dullahan bowed once more and walked over to the sideline of the room. The player now looked at the dragons as he tried to sound convincing as their ruler. After a short moment of silence he spoke up. "Guardians, I thank you for coming here at such a late hour. I apologize if I have disturbed you in any way." He said.

"Not at all Erebos-sama." Said Vulcanus, while still bowing to his creator. "You have created us all. You have every right to command us as you please. Give us the order and each of us won't hesitate to break our limbs and crush our bodies" The other dragons only gave short nods in agreement at this.

' _That's a little extreme. I like it._ ' Erebos thought. "Very well then. Now I shall explain what has lead to this situation. About one hour ago, the Vanguard's Loss has been transported from the realm of Nidavellir to an unknown position." Erebos said as he observed the reactions of the guardians. They were shocked and anxious, but not panicked the slightest. "The fortress' ruins used to lay on top of a hill of a desolated landscape. Right now however we are in the middle of a lush-green forest. I've looked around the area already for a bit and I can confirm that we are not in any of the areas of YGGDRASIL I know. This could mean two different things. One would be that we are in an unknown region of YGGDRASIL, which is highly unlikely. The second and more likely possibility is that we are no longer in YGGDRASIL at all. Therefore, I've assembled all of you here to talk about our next actions in this world." Erebos said.

"What course of action would you suggest then Erebos-sama?" Asked Kympholeia. Now Erebos was a little bit suprised.

' _Huh? Isn't that why I summoned you here?_ ' Erebos thought. The NPCs looked at him awaiting his answer as he tried to figure out an answer on his own.

* * *

 _Meanwhile_

Far away from the forest, where the ruins of Vanguard's Loss had appeared, another anomaly had appeared in form of a mysterious gate had appeared on top of a hill. These two events should be just the beginning of a chain of events that would change this world forever.

* * *

 **And so it begins. Thanks for reading. This was the first chapter of the new story Reign Supreme. I hope you enjoyed it so far. Now then, how should Erebos and the rest of Tartarus go on from here? Write your opinion into the reviews or send me a private message with your ideas and suggestions and I'll see what I can do for you. All kinds of constructive criticism is appreaciated.**

 **However don't worry that this will make me stop updating for the other stories. I just had to get this out of my system. Character sheets are still in making and should come out with the next update.**

 **Now then, I hope to see you next time again to see how things will unfold. Until then stay tuned for more and have a nice day.**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Exploration

* * *

Erebos still sat on his throne as he pondered what he should do now. He had been a strategist both in-game and in reality. That had been necesarry to ensure his survival on the battlefield and with it his progresses in YGGDRASIL, because a player lost 5 levels when killed. Still right now he was in a complete unknown situation and didn't even knew if it was real to begin with. Still his experiences in battle had taught him to always be sceptical and careful. He looked at his dragon generals and Charon as he spoke up.

"We are in an unknown area and have no idea what could wait for us behind the next corner. We don't know if any of Tartarus' enemies have been brought here as well or if we were the only ones. Both options are as positive in one matter as they are negative in another. Anyway, to prevent our presence to become known to the inhabitants of this world we should for now keep a low profile and wait until we can step out into the open." Erebos said.

"Erebos-sama, how should we do this?" Khympoleia asked. "With the Vanguard's Loss being a ruin we are no easy to hide."

"That is true however we have already a good disguise." Erebos said. "Vanguard's Loss is a ruin. There is no denying in it, however since we are inside a forest and Close to a mountain range we are already well hidden. However, from above we are still quite visible due the size of Vanguard's Loss." Erebos said.

"Erebos-sama, what if we hide Vanguard's Loss by using illusions and magic?" Asked Vulcanus.

"A good idea Vulcanus, however can we cover a larger area constantly with illusions? The amount of MP that would be necesarry from the spellcasters would also be quite high." Erebos said.

"Please allow me to offer a solution for this issue Erebos-sama." Charon said.

"Very well. Say what you have to." Erebos said.

"Thank you. If we use magic items to generate a thick mist and set up a net of detection spells, Vanguard's Loss would be much better disguised." Charon said. The dragon generals thought about it before nodding in Agreement. Erebos then nodded.

"Very well. In that case we will set up such a secured area around the ruins." He said. "Now then, we should move on to the next step. We still lack information about this world. We have no idea what lives in this world or anything related to it's lands. Under normal circumstances I'd just go out and look around by myself to figure out what is where, however the circumstances are far from ordinary. Also we need to keep our presence unknown from potential enemies, meaning contact with sentient lifeforms should be prevented for now, since we don't know how they would react to a dragon or any other creature that lives within Vanguard's Loss." Erebos said, before turning to one of his generals. "Aeolus, you have skills as an illusionist that allow you to be a bit stealthy. Also you can provide allies with buffs such as invisibility. You will make sure that not a single soul will notice us when we provide reconnaisance. After a crude look over the world we should be able to say what lives here and if we have an agent we can sent out." Erebos said.

"Understood Erebos-sama." Aeolus said.

"Very good. Now just for the unlikely case that an intruder enters Vanguard's Loss. You should know it by now, but I'll say it loud so you won't forget it. Each and every sentient, living being that dares to enter Vanguard's Loss without permission is to be eliminated before informations can reach a potential enemy force. After getting informations from them they should be killed right away. I don't know how you do it, as long as it can be done. Cleaved in two, stabbed in the back, shot in the head, sliced open, gutted alive... I don't care. Unless I give the order to not attack or to leave someone alone in this dungeon, Vanguard's Loss will not be tarnished by an outsider." Erebos said. "I want to know when an invader is inside and who and what it is. Then I decide about how to deal with it. Am I understood?" He asked.

"YES EREBOS-SAMA." The five NPCs said in unison. Erebos sighed in relief.

"Very well. Now that this is taken care of, I'll now go into my working room. Charon, I want you to inform the other servants of Vanguard's Loss about my orders. After that take a few of the monsters to secure the area above and tell me what you brought up to the surface. Since we are inside a forest we should have already a good camouflage in this region, however I want to make sure that this fortress' location remains unknown to those that shouldn't know it. The generals can now return to their posts in the dungeon. Tell your subordinates about my orders as well and be ready to summoned if I need your assisstance. You are dismissed." Erebos said. The NPCs walked out the door as Erebos stayed a little longer in the room. ' _With the area secured from the ground and the air the ruins should be well hidden for now. However I cannot simply sit idly by until tomorrow. Speaking of which I somehow don't feel that tired. How strange. Normally I sleep not that much due my job, but now I lead a bunch of powerful, inhuman creatures that I created myself and I'm not tired the slightest. Doesn't matter. I better test out the [Mirrow of Remotive View] to see what is further away from this forest._ ' Erebos thought as he stood up from his throne and walked to his quarters.

* * *

 _A bit later at the entrance of Vanguard's Loss_

Caitlyn was still looking for anyone who could try to spy on the ruins as she heard the footsteps of several persons behind her. She turned around to see Charon with a few other creatures behind him. One of them was bulky and hunched over, but a cloak covered all it's features. The other creatures behind the two were spawn monsters of the dungeon. There were 3 types of NPCs in YGGDRASIL. The first one were monsters that the dungeon spawned automatically. When one of them was destroyed the dungeon simply spawned a new one after a certain amount of time. However spawn NPCs never were stronger than Level 30, meaning that spawn NPCs couldn't be used to defend a dungeon alone against the attacks of YGGDRASIL players. The second type were mercenary NPCs. These monsters were also spawned by the dungeon however they required Special items to be summoned and it cost YGGDRASIL gold to summon and respawn them. Making to many mercenary NPCs can easily exhaust a guild's Gold reserves. The third type were Custom NPCs. These NPCs were created by YGGDRASIL Players. Custom NPCs could have multiple functions. The primary one was to guard a dungeon and helping the player to defend it. Other NPCs were created for the sake of roleplaying or were just made as decorations for the dungeon. Some of the monsters behind Charon and the other robed figure were looking like lizards with 8 pairs of legs. Basilisks were not very strong monsters in YGGDRASIL, but were capable of fending off most unexperienced warriors with their hard scales and venomous attacks. Also they had an ability known as [Pertrifying Gaze], that paralysed enemies. But the basilisks were not the only creatures that the two had brought with them. Behind them were also other low level monsters to observe the area around Vanguard's Loss. They were brought up to the surface to secure the area to be Tartarus' eyes, ears, fangs and claws. However before the force could move out Caitlyn stood in their way.

"No one is allowed to leave Vanguard's Loss without Erebos-sama's permission." She stated without any emotion in her voice.

"Erebos-sama has given us new orders. We are sent secure an area of the forest to make sure no intruders or spies will enter without us noticing it. Also we will deploy illusion items to cover our area to prevent others to find this place from above. Those are Erebos-sama's orders." Charon said. Caitlyn looked at the dullahan for a moment before she stepped out of the group's way as she new that neither of their masters creations would ever betray him. Charon nodded at her before he and the group headed out of the gate. Immediately the forces of Tartarus began their work.

* * *

 _A few days later_

It has been now 4 days ever since the ruins of Vanguard's Loss had suddenly been transported from Nidavellir in the DMMORPG YGGDRASIL to a completely unknown location. The dragon player had already wanted to leave before, however is servants and NPCs had insited to scout the area around Vanguard's Loss first, which turned out to be a giant forest of more than 40 kilometers in diameter in the south and west, while a mountain range stetched itself from northwest to the south east, forming a U around the forest. In that time Erebos wasn't just laying back and sleeping, but actually trying to make sense of the whole situation. Also the last days provided him with enough time to see how much the dungeon had changed since it had ome into this world. Except the fact that the monsers and NPCs were now alive not much had changed, but that change alone provided him with a large Group of workers he could use as he saw fit. Mostly he however had tried to observe the area from Vanguard's Loss. But the time for staying inside the walls of the castle were over.

Curently, Erebos was standing at the entrance of the ruins as he looked up into the thick fog, that made it impossible for him to see the blue sky above. It kind of reminded him about the smog back on Earth, but that was now in the past. He turned around and saw a NPC he had created. Aeolus was floating in the air as his serpentine body was hovering in mid-air, while his wings were simply spread to keep it up. Because the legs were rather short at the serpentine dragon Aeolus had to depend on his wings for mobility.

"Are you ready?" Erebos asked as he spread his own wings.

"Always Erebos-sama." The serpentine dragon said bowing his head in respect.

"Good." Erebos said. "I've already taken a look at our surroundings and even away from this forest. It seems like there are settlements there, still we must be very careful. That's why I asked you to accompany me today. With your abilities as an illusionist we should be able to explore the area without drawing to much attention to ourselves." Erebos said as he took flight followed by his subordinate. Both dragons rose up into the sky and broke through the white fog. Erebos almost stopped as he saw the clear blue sky. He was already shell shocked when he saw it through the [Mirror of Remotive View]. As someone who only knew the sky as a thick black mass with the sun only coming out once in a month at best it was a foreign and slightly uncomfortable sight to behold. The more he was suprised when he saw what laid beyond this forest.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _2 days earlier_

 _[Mirror of Remotive View] was a very handy item and belonged to the most basic items a guild should have. The mirror was like a webcam, but instead putting a camera somewhere and watching through it by using a computer the player could simply use the mirror like a touch screen to look what was outside of the guild base. However the mirror had the critical drawback that it could easily be tricked by using Magic and even a weak atak could destroy it. That's why guilds in YGGDRASIL had this item in a larger number._

 _Still there was one thing that bugged Erebos out._

 _"How the hell is this Thing working? I don't get it!" He said frustrated as he made movements with his hands. Originally he had thought to simply use the mirror like a touch screen of a tablet, however with his sharp claws that was probably not a good idea. It got worse when he tried to zoom in at the forest he was in. Instead of making the forest larger, the picture suddenly was thrown sideways as if he had swung his hand to a side. "What the heck is this shit?!" He cursed as he tried to calm himself. "Okay... very carefully now..." He said to himself as he slowly made a tapping motion with his finger. The picture now was only moving slightly. Erebos repeated that tapping motion again. Now the mirror suddenly turned black. For a moment Erebos simply sat on his throne. In the next he flipped the mirror over. "I DON'T GET IT?!" He yelled, before he picked the mirror up again and turned it on as he tried to figure out how he could make it do what he wanted._

 _Another hour passed until Erebos had finally managed to make something like a mental list of commands and what they did. He was now moving away from the forest and mountains as he saw town a couple of Kilometers away from the forests edge._

 _"Now that's interesting." He said as he made the mirror zoom in. Erebos now saw a town like he had in YGGDRASIL. The buildings were made of Wood and Stone, while a large wall made of stone was surrounding the city. In it's midst was a large manor as if some kind of rich bastard lived there. In comparison to the fantastic landscapes of YGGDRASIL this town was like a backwater place however. The architecture was not medieval and looked even older and simplier. The people in the streets moved up and down as Erebos saw men in armor heading out to the walls and stood on guard. Women and children walked around and merchants sold wares. However there was something that displeased Erebos. Most of these people were humans. Only a few individuals were not humans, but humanoid species and they seemed to be in a worse condition as the humans as they wore mostly rags and didn't look very healthy. Erebos then zoomed out the town as he searched for other settlements._

 _Flashback Ends_

* * *

Erebos had directed Charon to go into one into the villages he had found nearby to this town in the south to gather informations while Erebos would travel with Aeolus straight to the southwest to explore the area more. Meanwhile Gaia was ordered to send her minions into different directions to gather more informations and if necessarry to eliminate potential threats to Tartarus.

"I see." Aeolus said. "[Invisibility]." He said as Erebos and Aeolus seemed to disappear from the naked eye, but the player could still see the other dragon perfectly clear.

"Good this should be enough for now." Erebos said as he pointed into the distance. "I think the two deserve some praise don't you think so Aeolus. I felt multiple Magic barriers and illusions working together. With this it shouldn'tbe able to come even close to Loss." Erebos said.

"They certainly did their Task well. Perhaps you should speak to them later." Aeolus said. Erebos nodded.

"Very well. Now come. Let's see what's behind this horizon." He said before flying towards the direction he had pointed at, Aeolus was following closely behind. Both dragons flew high in the sky as Erebos looked down on the world like on ants. He watched down as the mountains flew beneath him into the distance and were replaced with forests and grasslands. ' _So let's see how fast I can go with this new body._ ' Erebos thought as he accelerated. His avatar was not primary built for agility, but he sure was faster than on the ground. The world beneath him would have been a blur if he flew deeper, but in this height the landscape only passed by as he flapped his wings once in a while. After flying over the land for an hour or so, Erebos stopped and looked around to figure out were they were. He was now above the middle of a great plain, which seemed to streach itself from one horizon to the other. Aeolus arrived behind his creator, ready to engage any enemy that they could face.

"Is something the matter Erebos-sama?" He asked.

"No. I'm just trying to get a better picture of this place." Erebos replied. "We have been flying over this area for quite some time now. At the next settlement we will try to get informations about this place." He said as Aeolus and he continued to fly. After a minute or two Erebos saw a village not far from their position. "Ara? What do we have there? Let's take a closer look." Erebos said as the other dragon simply nodded. Both flew a bit lower and closer to the village. Just a dozen meters above the village the two dragons hovered in mid-air as they observed what seemed to be a normal day. The village was almost a town by it's size but it wasn't surrounded by high walls but a simple fence. Men and women alike worked on large fields of wheat to harvest it later as they were clad in rather poor clothes. In the streets a few children also seemed to be in the streets playing around, while others helped their parents. Erebos felt a little jealous at this sight. Apparantly this children had a good childhood and given how carefree they ran around they had no idea of the terrors of the real life. ' _Damn I wish had such a childhood._ ' Erebos thought as he mentioned Aeolus to go as both of them flew away from the settlement.

"Erebos-sama? You are flying very fast." Aeolus said as he flew next to Erebos. The dragon player immediately slowed down a little to make it easier for Aeolus to catch up though it was unnecessarry. Aeolus was created after the model of the wind element. His body was no good on land or in the water. His purpose was to fly and support other NPCs from above. As a general he was also a bit smart so he was able to judge an situation even when he was higher a kilometer above the ground.

"I'm just disturbed by the fact that I couldn't understand the native language." Erebos said.

"Should I wipe them out Erebos-sama?" Naga asked. the question suprised the other dragon a little, but he brushed it off. He actually considered this idea for a moment before dismissing it.

"No. That would have no use for us at all. Also would that change our current situation to the better in any case? No it wouldn't. We will look for another village and see if we can gain some information there with the translator items." Erebos said.

"I see." Aeolus replied as he and Erebos said flew further into the west.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Charon_

The hooded dullahan was walking through the streets of a small city not far from the forest in which now the Vanguard's Loss stood. Despite the fact that the people here went into the forest to produce wood and sell it, no one had seen the ruins yet as they were deep inside the forests multiple kilometers away from this place. The huts were simply made out of wood and stone as the town was apparantly not very rich. Next to the human population, Charon saw also other humanoid species. After talking with a local villager Charon had to learn that he didn't spoke nor understood the local language. In YGGDRASIL the most languages were simply automatically translated, but here this was a different story. Therefore Erebos had bestowed his scouts with translation items, but advised them to only use them if necesarry. Seeing that this was indeed the case Charon said his goodbyes to the villager before using the item on himself and talking with another villager. Through this he managed to collect informations about a lot of things. As he couldn't learn more he sattled his horse and rode to the next village.

The horse of course was no simple animal as it was commonly found in this world. It was amount from YGGDRASIL that was summoned through an item. An ordinary horse would most likely run away if Charon would just come close to such an animal.

After a few kilometers however Charon noticed a few other riders following him. At first he had not paid them any mind as they simply could have travelled in the same direction, however he could feel their Looks in his back as if they were trying to Strip him. It were two of them and both of them looked like scum. They wore dirty leather armor and carried short swords at their belts. Their faces looked rough and a predatory glint was present in their eyes. After a while as Charon wanted to go further on the road one of the riders actually forced him to change his course as he was brought to a small forest. The riders came closer.

"Well look what comes into our forest?" One of them said.

"Now that's blunt, isn't it? Didn't anyone tell you to not go into other people's homes?" The second asked. Charon ignored their comments as he simply kept riding. Suddenly, a net was thrown from the bushes into the air in hope to catch the rider, but Charon's riding skills and inhuman abilities were advantages that couldn't simply be outsmarted. He let go of the reigns of his Mounts making it slow down as if a car was doing a full out break.

"What the-" A rider said but t was too late as Charon grabbed the reigns of their horses and threw them Forward. The Mounts that weighted much more than adult men were thrown into the net with their riders like ragdolls as they tumbled whining and screaming to the ground. The horses kicked around trying to free themselves from the net, but only managed to entangle their legs only further into the net and hit their former riders, who could only scream in pain. Charon didn't care for their screams. The only thing they were was loud and pathetic. Meanwhile a lot more robbers came out the bushes with daggers, swords and clubs. As they were drawing closer to him, Charon was not even looking at them. They chuckled confident, that they could overpower Charon with their superior numbers.

"When you consider your lifes worth something, you should not attack." Charon said, but earned only confused Looks and laughter from the bandits.

"That guy's crazy. He thinks he can take on all of us. Let's Show that idiot what he gets from that." A bandit yelled as the entire gang charged at Charon with battlecries. Charon just let them come.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Erebos_

The dragon player and his creation/companion Aeolus were flying along a river they had found in the northwest and now flew along the the river. Because people normally settle at and along such bodies of water and given the technological level that he had seen the people possess in this world, Erebos was sure that sooner or later they would find a settlement as long as they followed the river further into the west. However both dragons flew higher in intervals to restore the deceiving spells to prevent drawing more than necessarry attention to themselves. Though, Erebos had no idea how much MP Aeolus had left. The Serpentine Dragon had unlike Erebos not the possibility to change his size. However just after the last restoration of this spell the draconic duo found a large town built right at the river.

"We are going down there Aeolus." Erebos said as both of them slowly came closer to the ground. The town was rather lively for some reason that the dragons didn't knew. However since they had used translator items they completely understood what the people said. Some merchants were praising their goods, while elsewhere people were bickering about something irrelevant. However than the dragons put their eyes on a mansion close to the center. While they drew closer they saw a balcony where a well clothed man was sitting as he was served by a group of maids. This picture alone pissed Erebos off to no end, as he remembered how he had to work and put his life on the line for some ass that never had to work himself, but he tried to not blow his and Aeolus' cover by emitting killing intent. Erebos had already experienced that his Body and his passive abilities mostly reated on direct commands, but also his mood.

"Darling." A woman's voice came through the building as the maids made way for a woman with blue robes around her body which looked a lot better than the usual clothes of the citizens they had seen so far and golden jewelry in form of a necklace with several gems, rings at her fingers and earings, which Erebos somehow gave the feeling that they will sooner or later rip her earlobes off. All in all it looked like this Family wasn't missing anything and lived in their wealth while some of the people in the town not even had a roof over their heads. That really reminded Erebos about he had grown up. "Do you think it was right to sent our dear Decius in this battle? He never had much talent with a sword." The woman said. The man in his chair groaned at this in annoyance.

"You know how the order is, woman. The Empire has ordered all soldiers that can fight to the front. Don't worry about our boy too much. He will return with honor and pride. I've been in the imperial army as well and so did my father and his father before him. Because of these two great men we can live like we do now. For that our son can be grateful and show it by fighting those barbarians." The man said. Erebos found this whole topic most interesting and would have liked to hear more, but the woman left her husband and retreated back inside the mansion, ending the conversation. He looked at his creation and used [Message] to speak to him without talking.

{We have heard enough Aeolus. Come now. We should go back to Vanguard's Loss and hear what the others have found out.} He said to him as both dragons took flight and flew above the clouds. Out of the range of observing eyes both dragons appeared again as an oval portal opened in mid-air. Both dragons flew through it and suddenly found themselves in a massive desert. This was the 2nd floor of Vanguard's Loss and the floor Aeolus was created to protect. In the middle of this desert stood a creature, but much like Charon, it was wrapped in robes making it impossible to see the features of this creature. It was a short and hunched creature as if it was an old man with back problems. "Thank you. Now go back to the 5th floor. I apologize for removing you from your post." Erebos said. The robed figure however instead of replying bowed it's head, before using [Gate] again and vanishing from the 2nd floor.

"Erebos-sama, shouldn't we have stayed longer to gather more informations?" Aeolus asked.

"Perhaps that would have been a better decision. However I didn't want to overuse your MP reserves. If we would have been attacked by someone strong you could have died and dead you cannot serve." Erebos said. Aeolus bowed his head at this.

"I'm moved by your words Erebos-sama. I shall serve you until the end of my days has come." The serpentine dragon said. Erebos tilted his head though he felt quite satisfied with this answer.

"My lord I ask you a question Aeolus?" Erebos asked.

"Of course Erebos-sama. I shall answer your questions to the best of my abilities." Aeolus said. Erebos swallowed at this and clenched his Hands into fists.

"What do you think about me?" Erebos asked.

"You are the greatest being beneath the sky. An absolute being of power that can crush it's opponents in a beat of an eye and cannot be defied. A creature that even suprasses the gods." Aeolus said. Erebos sweatdropped at this.

' _Isn't that farfetched now?_ ' He thought. "I see...I shall return to my quarters. Please report if anything happens. Also when the scouts are back I want the generals and the other high ranked members to hear what we have found out. That includes your subordinates as well. After all you are the leader of Tartarus' aerial forces. I'll send each of you a message when the time has come." Erebos said before he took flight and used another shaft to disappear deep underneath the sand of the desert.

Aeolus looked after Erebos for a moment before turning around and flying off to inform his subordinates as well.

* * *

 _Later_

Blood stained the grass and trees in the forest and dripped down the trunks, branches and leaves, forming crimson pools on the ground and turning the ground into a wet mud where it had already soaked into it. In midst this red land a robed figure readjusted it's hood. Charon simply got back on his horse which stood on top of half a dozen dead bodies, so terribly disfigured that one couldn't tell anymore what they had been before.

"Annoying insects." The dullahan muttered as he mounted his horse again and rode beside a few crippled bandits he had left alive and tied together with a rope on purpose. In the next moment a gate appeared and the hunchbacked robed figure appeared again.

"Edo." Charon greeted the robed person.

"Mmhh..." Edo hummed as it stalked closer to the terrified and half dead men.

"Just bring them to someone to interogate them. After that we'll just dispose them." Charon simply said. Edo nodded before a clawed hand grabbed the tied up bandits and threw them without much efford into the gate. Edo then turned to Charon.

"It seems like something is troubling you." Edo said with the voice of an old man.

"You must have become senile Edo. Nothing could disturb me from fulfilling Erebos-sama's orders. However you seem to be concerned about something." Charon said.

"This situation is very disturbing indeed. We will be tested in many ways. We must believe in Erebos-sama more than ever. Also it will be troublesome to understand this new place." Edo said with concern in his voice.

"I see, but do not worry. The faith of those that were created by the Supreme One cannot be shattered or shaken." Charon said as he took off to the next settlement.

"I hope so for you as well." Edo said before disappearing from the forest. After an hour on the horses back he arrived in a small village. Left and right stood simple huts of stone and wood as the headless rider was slowly rode through the town, ignoring the mutters of the people that passed him by. The town looked not very rich, but so had the last village he had been. Charon already guessed that the majority of the people of this country, whatever it was called, didn't had much. Not that the undead cared for such a thing. All that matters was that his master and creator Erebos stood above all else and was not to be harmed in anyway by any creature. The undead finally arrived at the hut of the chief of the village who looked startled at him. It was an older man around the late 40s with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?!" He exclaimed as he moved to the fire place to grab one of the however Charon simply appeared in front of the chief and grabbed him by the throat. "Release me!"

"Wrong answer." Charon said as he applied more pressure on the man's neck, slowly forcing him to his knees. Slowly Charon brought the man's head closer to the fire. "You will answer my questions now and no harm will be done on you. Should you however resist I'll simply burn the answers out of you." The cloaked dullahan said. "Now then. Shall we start?" He said as the man beneath him could only look in horror at him. This was going to be a very long interogation.

* * *

 _Meanwhile_

Erebos sat on his throne as in front of him Edo stood as he had informed his master about the captured human bandits.

"I see. In that case we should start to interogate them as soon as possible. We still have no idea what is out there. I assume you have brought them already to Spectra." Erebos asked.

"I have indeed Erebos-sama." Edo said bowing his head. The black dragon mused as he stood up from his throne.

"Come. Let us talk as we walk." Erebos said as he mentioned Edo to follow him as he shrunk back to a size of about 2 meters. "This first task will be finished soon Edo. I believe that you are aware of that. Therefore we will have to prepare for the next steps already." Erebos said as both master and servant walked through the hallways of the fortress.

"As expected of Erebos-sama. Always thinking one step ahead." Edo said.

"It is only normal to do so. We have to consider all different kinds of Events that could happen and prepare for each possibility. The future is not written and even something as insignificant as the beat of a butterfly's wing can change the future." Erebos said. "I plan to perhaps even mobilise our stealth Forces as well to gain more Information about this world."

"Mhmm indeed a wise decision. But we should work too hasty, if you permit me to say." Edo said, bowing deeply to the dragon.

"Permission granted though you are one of my counselours." Erebos said. Originally he had created Edo for the sake of roleplaying as an advisor, while only bestowing him with Little supportive magical abilities. "In any case Edo, Tartarus will be ready for combat." Erebos said as he arrived at a door. As it opened Erebos looked into a room that was filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes. Katanas, warhammers, daggers, Whips, scythes, gauntlets, axes, bows, spears, crossbows, rifles and many others were put into fitting stands in a large room. But also armors of various designs and quality were resting here. It was the perhaps second biggest room in the entire 6th floor of Tartarus the armory. Further away Erebos heard the sound of a welder as Edo looked around the weapons like a pet that just had come to the new owner's home.

At the end of the long hallway Erebos finally saw the one responcible for the noise. It was a young woman with a black apron in front of her chest and a welder in her hands as she worked on a maze. Heavy boots and gloves covered her appendages as she stopped working and inspected her work. Short brown hair fell down her neck as two blue cybernetic eyes looked at the weapon with a emotionless look. The only thing that oved on her face were the target marks in her eyes that seemed to analyse the weapon.

"I see you are working as always Deliah." Erebos said. She was like Caitlyn an automaton, though her speciality wasn't to shredder enemies into pieces before they knew it, but to make items and equipment. For the dragon player the release of the automaton race made him immediately want to make such a blacksmith as machines mostly worked more accurate than living creatures. Deliah looked around, before she walked over to Erebos and Edo and kneeled to Erebos.

"My creator. It's an honor to have you here in my humble Workshop. What can this one do to serve you?" Cindy asked. Erebos almost fell over at this.

' _Humble? Do you have any idea what a humble Workshop is? To get all your Equipment together one would have to beat up at least 10 gods of craftsmanship._ ' He thought, before replying. "Be at ease Deliah. I have merely come to observe your progress with this project. Tell me, do you think you have enough raw materials?" Erebos asked.

"I believe the materials should be enough my creator, however I do not think that the quality of the items might be suitable." She said. Now the dragon rose a brow at this, but said nothng about it, leaving it for now.

"Very well. We will discuss this to a later time. For now proceed with your work as planned. Should you request anything to complete this task do not hesitate to tell me." Erebos said.

"Your kindness is too much for this undeserving servant. I shall return to it immediately." Deliah said as she stood up before bowing one last time to Erebos and Edo, before walking back into the back of the armory. Erebos then turned around and left the room with Edo.

"Erebos-sama? May I ask about this project of yours? What purpose does it serve?" Edo asked.

"You'll see when the time comes. Also we should discuss how we can gain even more informations than by just using Charon and the others as scouts when he returns from his information gathering. For now let's just think about something else." Erebos said.

"Such as what Erebos-sama?"

"Something that will cool our minds down for a little. Constant stress will do no good on us. You are dismissed for now. Should something happen I'm in my quarters for a while. Speak with Spectra and summarise what he has found out already." Erebos said.

"Your wish is my order, Erebos-sama." Said Edo before walking around a corner as Erebos walked back to his quarters.

' _God this is so tiring!_ ' He mentally groaned as he walked down the hall. ' _First I thought it would be useful to have all this power, but now I spent almost the entire time with making plans for the future. Alright calm down Erebos. You know that this is necesarry. You were annoyed by it whenever you planned a heist and now you are too, but don't let it out on your servants._ ' He thought. Erebos might not be the most educated person, but even he knew that many monarchs in the past fell victim of their own abuse of power. Though he doubted that his own creations would attack him in a revolt, he wasn't fully convinced that they wouldn't either, though so far they did everything he had said. Sighing mentally to himself he arrived back in his quarters and began to think about each and every NPC in Tartarus and what they had to do now. Then he used [Message].

"Hades. Come to the throne room when Charon returns. And bring the others of the stealth troops with you as well." He said.

* * *

 _Later_

After the interogation and whipping the memories of the village chief Charon travelled back to Vanguard's Loss, while making sure no one followed him. Night had fallen over the land as clouds hid the moon and stars. Now the land was completely shrouded in darkness as Charon simply could navigate through this almost complete darkness without any problems. He made his horse disappear as he entered the forest and walked back. The woods creaked and snapped beneath his boots as he walked through the Woods. He reached the fog that covered the area around Vanguard's Loss without an incident. At the gates of the ruins waited already the automaton Caitlyn. The two NPCs didn't talked with one another if it wasn't necessarry. It wasn't like they didn't like one another, but they were behaving like professionals. Charon simply entered the ruins and made his way to the 5th floor to report to his master what he had found out. As he arrived in the throne room Erebos looked down at him with a group of other dragons in the room. The generals were present like last time but there were more individuals in the room.

One was an individual in purple full body armor with wings sprouting from the back and standing about 5 meters tall. In the hand it held a gray trident. The jagged and spiked armor even covered the wings completey as blue eyes peered out the helmet. His name was Helios and he was the guardian of the 1rst Floor of Vanguard's Loss. The next creature was a wyvern with black scales and armor with a bone design, that made the creature look only more savage as two horns grew backwards on the back of the head. This was Banshee. The third creature was a dragon as well, but this creature was more an european dragon though it had eight limbs counting the wings as well. Curved horns pointed upwards, a pair of horns grew at the sides of it's mouth and sharp fangs at the upper jaw made him look like a spawn from the depths of hell. Muscular arms and legs were proofs for a large physical strength. The four bat like wings were slimmer than those of most dragons, but they were still big enough to allow this creature to fly. A blade sat at the end of the tail. All three of them were part of a division, which was under Erebos' direct command and served as guerilla warfare unit.

Charon looked back at his master Erebos who sat patiently on his thrown and looked down at him. In front of the dragon player, the undead bowed his head again in respect and awe.

"I see you have returned Charon. Now please tell us what you have to found out." Erebos said.

"Yes Erebos-sama. When I first tried to communicate with the humans that inhabit this world it was impossible to understand one another. They speak an entirely different language. So I used the translation item you have bestowed me with and collect more informations from another scource." Charon said as he stood up. "First, we are on a continent called Falmart. The most of this continent is controlled by a nation that calls itself the Saderan Empire, but it mostly is referred by the people as The Empire. It's current ruler is called Molt Sol Augustus. Vanguard's Loss has been transported into the eastern region of the Empire while the imperial capital Sadera apparantly is located far away in the west."

"I see." Erebos said as he thought about it. "Please continue."

"Of course. The next thing I've found out is that the empire seems to pay with various coins of gold, silver and copper. Our gold is therefore not suitable to be used for any kind of trading." Charon said as he pulled out a small pouch which clicked as the metal coins shifted against one another inside of the pouch.

"Where did you get that money Charon-san?" Asked Vulcanus.

"I happened to be encountered by a group of bandits on my way. A few have been brought here to be interogated by Spectra."

"Yes. Spectra had came here once to deliver the informations gathered from the bandits. You did the right thing to bring them here Charon. If such individuals keep lurking around the area it might happen that they could find Vanguard's Loss without knowing what it is and get the wrong ideas. Anyway something I'd like to know is the people's opinion about dragons." Erebos said.

"Dragons are seen as simple minded beasts in this realm Erebos-sama. The empire seems to tame dragons as flying calvary. Next to that bigger dragons seem to be indeed savage animals of great destructive power for the people of this world." Charon said. The most dragons in the room were growling or hissing quitely as the dullahan's words reached their ears. To call a creature as strong and prideful as a simple animal was more than just a simple insult. Erebos himself was acually clutching his fists as well to not give in into his rage that burned like a vulcano in him.

"I see. Still, this wasn't everything you found out did you?" Erebos asked.

"No. As it seems the Saderan Empire has several smaller nations in the south of it as it's vassals. Still several soldiers have been ordered to assemble in the west to start some kind of attack, but the people I asked didn't knew what the target was." Charon said. Erebos thought about this.

' _So the empire is currently at war with someone I guess. Mhmm. This could be of benefit for us. Everyone knows that predators always aim for weak and sick animals. So should they get crippled in this war enough they wouldn't be a problem for us at all._ ' He thought. "Charon have you heard of something about the population of the empire?" He asked.

"I did Erebos-sama, but how is that important?" Charon asked.

"I want to check on something. So can you tell me something about the different races of this empire?" Erebos asked.

"Well I wasn't able to bring much to light, however from what I can tell from the people I questioned and the settlements I've seen so far humans seem to make the majority of this nation's population." Charon said. "Though this is but a little area inside this empire that seems to hold control of the majority of this continent. Next to humans other races exist alongside them, which are simply labeled as so called 'nonhumans'. Due our lack of knowledge we cannot exactly tell now how many different kinds of creatures live underbeath this banner and what they are, but given the fact that I've encountered elves on my journey they should also be a race that is declared as nonhuman." The undead said. Erebos almost chuckled in irony at this.

' _No matter where or when people really can be racist, can't they? Even though elves are an human race as well._ ' He thought as he remembered all the player killers he had turned into ashes. ' _A good times._ ' "I see Charon. If this army is heading somewhere we should perhaps look for ourselves where these people are heading. However, we still don't know enough yet. Making a lot of sound in an unknown deep forest will only lure predators to us, which we actually seek to avoid. For now we should keep our low profile and focus on scouting the area, while gathering more informations." Erebos said. "Banshee, you can move around without being detected especially at night. Your camouflage is even better than that of Aeolus'. I want you to follow the empire's forces and provide Tartarus with Information. Make sure to not be detected." He said as the wyvern bowed her head.

"I'll be like a shadow. They won't notice me Erebos-sama." Banshee said.

"Umu." Erebos nodded. "Hades. You are one of the dragonoids in Tartarus' forces. When the time comes I want you to blend in the human society of the empire to infiltrate their ranks. For now you will help the others by collecting more informations to make you blend in better. Though I doubt that the empire has something like a network with a list of all registered civilians of it, a randomly appearing person out of nowhere will be suspicious. If you can report something out of interest for us, don't hesitate to share it with us." He said. The dragon kneeled and bowed his head deeper than before.

"I'll do as you wish Erebos-sama." Hades replied. Erebos turned to Helios.

"Helios, your main task for now is to keep Vanguard's Loss save from any intruders alongside Caitlyn. Also you will supervise the reparations of the castle." Erebos said.

"Reparations? Was the castle damaged by anyone?" Helios asked. Erebos almost facepalmed at this, but kept his cool.

"Vanguard's Loss is a castle ruin, which had been destroyed Long before I even conquered it for Tartarus." He said. "Back in Nidavellir I didn't had the time to do it, but now things are different. The surface level of Vanguard's Loss needs a serious cleaning job. Everywhere is destroyed inventory, that doesn't need to be there nor has it any use. You will supervise the maids and workers to do their job as well as helping them since you are far stronger than them." Erebos said. Helios kneeled to his master at this.

"As you wish." Helios said. A silent snicker rang through the hall as Banshee was holding her laugh back.

"Changing your weapon from a trident to a mop? Now this is just rich." She snickered.

"Shut your trap. Unlike an incomplete dragon like you I shall carry out Erebos' will without any hesitatio. No matter what it is. Even if it kills me I shall gladly lay down my life for his glory." Helios said.

"Even if it means to lose your face, honor and pride?" Banshee said, ignoring Helios' insult completely.

"Why you-"

"ENOUGH!" Erebos roared as the ground shook at his roar. Waves of energy were radiated by the massive black dragon as he glared down at the two bickering subordinates. "Banshee, Helios, you have been given your tasks. So start as soon as possible. The saderan forces have most likely already reached Sadera and will currently be briefing their assault strategy. You better fly as fast as you can if you don't want to be left behind." Erebos said. The wyvern quickly retreated and headed for the exit of the dungeon at this. "And as four you Helios, I created each an every one of you. None of you is incomplete as you all have a specific task to fulfill here in Tartarus. Am I understood?" The black dragon asked. ' _Though I couldn't give all of the NPCs a level of 100. So technically they are incomplete._ ' He thought.

"Of course Erebos-sama." Helios said.

"Very well. Now then since this has been all for now you are dismissed. Generals, keep on standby as your services could be needed in the future. You are dismissed." Erebos said. The people left the room slowly and made their way back to their appointed tasks as Erebos sighed in relief. "This is so tiring my nerves. Still, this whole situation remains a big mystery. Did really no other player made it here. Well I'll know soon enough. In any case, I should perhaps pay Sadera a visit later." He thought loud as he chuckled evilly to himself. "Hades can go there once the plan is set into motion. For now it will be enough to figure out how to explore this world without making my presence known to this place. But first I really could use some relax now." Erebos said as he stood up and walked out the room to head towards his quarters. As he walked through the hallways he suddenly noticed something flying around him at the height of his eyes.

Taking a closer look he saw a group of beautiful women with bat wings coming from their backs as they wore different types of maid uniforms. ' _Ah right the succubus maids. I haven't given them any attention yet now didn't I? Wow though I created each custom NPC here and made the new Settings for the spawning of both mercenary and spawn npcs I really am losing track here._ ' He thought. The women were respectful enough for Erebos to simply bow, when they were not addressed and flew to the sides of the hallway to make way for the massive dragon. ' _I guess I'll have to think again about how to use the NPCs later._ ' He thought as he stepped into his quarters.

* * *

 _At the next day_

In the morning Banshee flew over the plains of the western empire. Her body was invisible for any creature without the necesarry detection skills. She had flown the entire night and wasn't tired as she looked down at the assemblance of people beneath her on the ground. A force of thousands of soldiers has been assembled. Their movements were coordinated and precise, proving that it was a military unit instead of unorganised barbarians. The majority of people in this force were humans while other creatures such as orcs and goblins, which were in the front of the force. While the humans were wearing steel armor, held bows, lances, spears and swords and some even rode horses and wyverns, the demihumans were mostly clad in less protective, more savage armor like leather tunics and using weapons like hammers, clubs and axes. It had been easy to find the army in the night. Such a big group of people were not just leaving traces left and right, but also walked through the night with torches lit and smelled quite strong.

For Banshee alone it would be easy to kill these forces and add them to Tartarus as undead, but she decided against it though the sight of these dragon riders was really irritating her. How dare such primitive creatures to latch themselves on dragons like ticks and made them do what they wanted? ' _These vermin and their audacity..._ ' She thought as she shifted her attention to the direction the army was heading. They had left the area around Sadera already when the wyvern had found them and now they were marching forward without taking a break. It had been like this for hours already. For now Banshee could only be Patient and follow them from a safe distance without getting noticed.

* * *

 _Elsewhere_

Erebos was currently flying over the plains beyond the forest in the southwest of Vanguard's Loss as he investigated the area with Kympholeia. Flying high above the land making it almost impossible to see him for the naked eye he could already see something like the ocean from his position. Still his mind was somewhere far in the west from this place.

When he heard that Banshee had found and persued the army now he had prdered her to not engage the forces now involve herself in the upcoming battle in any kind of way as he didn't wanted the empire to get any suspicions. So instead of risking his subordinate he ordered her to stay out of it and to perhaps kidnap someone when she thought it was a good idea. If she would get her hands (claws, talons?) on a high ranked military member such as acommander or even a general they could squezze every last bit of valueable information out of that person. Erebos knew how much his torturers loved their job. After all he made them to do so.

However the destination of the army would presumably be reached tommorrow so Erebos had enough time to think about a few things. For now Charon, Hades, Kympholeia, Aeolus and himself were scouting the area in the close vicinity and looking for more informations. Meanwhile he was working on a cover story or rahter stories for his subordinates that would Infiltrate the empire. It was like doing an heist back where he came from. When preparations were poorly the whole operation was doomed to fail. It did happen a couple of times in his past, but he never got he probably would be rotting in a prison cell right now.

Luckily he wasn't. Still the black dragon wasn't content with their current strategy to gather information, though there was no alternative. To randomly ask villagers and people for informations, before wiping their memories clean from the conversation and/or torture and heal them of course afterwards, while scouting the area from above without having the chance to just walk around alone. It just was still like he was in some kind of cage like an animal.

Erebos sighed at this. His subordinates were all inhuman and only few of them possessed the ability to shapeshift. So he couldn't cover a large area with agents right now. Until he could find an opportunity to reveal himself to this world he had to play the waiting game. It had it's upsides though.

First, he could use the time to calmly observe and plan his next steps. As long as he didn't knew what this Saderan Empire was capable off, though Banshee said that most soldiers in the giant army she persued were between Level 11 and 16, which was in YGGDRASIL meassures less than the strength of most low level monsters, he couldn't risk to walk into a trap that could be easily avoided.

Secondly, he could use this time to play a little around with his creations. Now Erebos wasn't like someone who would simply let his perversation get the better of him when creating a character. If he would have done that he probably would have made all of his NPCs female and they would be stuck to him by now like chewing gum to a shoe. That of course wasn't the case. Vanguard's Loss was guarded by a force of strong custom and mercenary NPCs that was structured like an army. Erebos guessed that it was due his time in the military of his world. Sometimes he had wondered if he should've instead played an ego shooter or a strategy who knows where he would be right now if he actually did that.

In any case, the generals were in command of the lower lieutenants and commanders while he on top of the hierachy stood above all. Spawn NPCs that were generated by the dungeon had little to no intelligence, making them equal to foot soldiers without a personality. No Feelings that could get in the way at all. No fear, no denial, no complains, no mercy. Once given an order by an higher ranked NPC they would fulfill the order or die trying. It wasn't like their lifes mattered at all. They were simply reborn by the dungeon and it didn't cost Tartarus any gold.

Gold, however, was a critical isseu right now. Erebos had collected a lot of money by raiding dungeons and guild bases, killing bosses and finishing high ranked quests alike. Though he had to put a lot of his fortunate into the defensives of his home he still had quite a lot of it in his treasury. The thought of a dragon guarding it's treasury brought memories back from an dungeon raid that he had done long ago. It was almost too stereotypical. That aside gold wasn't gold anymore, at least as a currency. The gold coins from YGGDRASIL were larger, heavier and simply much better in quality as the coins in this empire seemed to made by hand. Now Erebos wasn't a master mind in chemistry, but according to Charon's informations there were three kinds of coins in this nation. Suwanis were made of gold as were so called sinkus, which were more common, but worth less with a proportion to the former of about 1:5. Then came silver denaris and copper sorudas. To make Things easier in RPGs there were no kinds of coins with less than value of 1, which was mostly gold.

The problem for Erebos was the fact that with this world not being an RPG like YGGDRASIL it would be very difficult should Tartarus lose a lot of it's money due mercenary NPC resurrection, custom NPC resurrection or just spending the money on the local market. Earlier this day he had seen how one of his monsters, a basilisk, had dragged back a dead wolf to eat it. Therefore Erebos had forbidden to bring any kind of YGGDRASIL gold outside of Vanguard's Loss.

Also if a coin would fall in the hands of another YGGDRASIL player, whose presence he had not completely ruled out yet, it would be like a big, colurful shining neon sign with the imprint 'FELLOW YGGDRASIL PLAYER HERE'. The last thing he would need right now was some kind of roleplayer who saw his chance to play the hero right now. Only because he was a World Champion didn't mean he was unvunerable at all.

"Are you alright Erebos-sama?" Kympholeia asked as she flew next to him.

"Yes. I'm fine." Erebos replied as he looked down to a small town at the sea that he was seeing.

"Erebos-sama, why do we have to hide from these pathetic insects when we could simple dominate them with a beat of our wings?" She asked.

"Because humans are not as weak as they seem to be." Erebos replied. Kympholeia looked at him rather confused as Erebos decided to explain it to her. "You could say that living creatures have specific talents like for example being very fast or having deadly weapons. Humans and most other humanoid races do not have such talents. Normally such an inability of such things would have doomed them to extinction. But it didn't, because they were clever enough to figure out ow to survive. What they lack in strength durability and stamina, they compensate with tools and strategy. They are still pathetic in comparison to us as we are powerful and immortal, but they still managed to survive despite being so weak and that is truly a great achievement. Still, if necesarry we will test them once more." Erebos said as he glared down at the city, which was now much closer to the two dragons.

"Of course Erebos-sama. All sentient creatures shall bow to you, Supreme One. And those who don't shall perish!" Kympholeia said the last part with an huge amount of venom in her voice. Erebos rose an eyebrow at this.

"Supreme One?" He asked.

"W-Well, for us, who have been created by your unparalled power and infinite wisdom, you are indeed a god, no a supreme being. Not to mention your experiences in killing deities and such creatures." The ice dragon said as Erebos had to take a double take at this point.

' _Now now. You are quite overestimating myself. But if they really think like that about me I guess I'll have to be a good leader like back home._ ' Erebos thought. "I see. Though you might be a bit overdoing it." He said.

"Such humble words from the Supreme One." Kympholeia said quitely, but Erebos still heard her.

' _What the..._ ' His thoughts were cut off by a familiar ringing sound of a [Message] incoming.

{Erebos-sama.} Edo said on the other side of the connection. {Charon has brought a map of this world to us as well as a lot of prisoners. Apparantly local bandits and criminals.}

{Very well Edo. Give Charon my thanks for his deeds. For now we continue as planned.}

{Understood.} Edo replied before terminating the connecting. Erebos turned to Kympholeia who was awaiting his orders. "We'll look along the coast for any other settlements, before we go back. Keep an eye open for any kind of incoming opponents." Erebos said.

"Of course Erebos-sama." Kympholeia said as both dragons flew along the coast. In that moment another [Message] came in.

{Erebos-sama.} It was Banshee. {I have found the target of the imperial army.}

{Very well. No one did see you or did they?} Erebos asked.

{No, but...} Came Banshee's reply. Now Erebos was confused.

' _In what direction is this going?_ ' He thought. {Okay what's the matter Banshee?} What she replied confused the dragon player more than anything so far.

{The target of the army isn't a city or a village. It is a gate.} The wyvern said.

* * *

 **Duh-duh-duh! And it is (drumrolls)... cliffhanger! Sorry. I couldn't help myself.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Reign Supreme.**

 **First of to make the timeskip a bit more understandable for you, here's a little explanation.**

 **Erebos arrived at the same time as the Gate in this world. Given a map of Falmart that I found on the wiki of this seriers, we can say that Alnus and Sadera are about 470 kilometers away from one another. When the Gate appeared the information of had first to be received by a group of soldiers, which would have to sent the message as fast as they could to the capital by using something like a falcon or even a dragon rider, what still would need an entire day to reach Sadera. In the meantime the scouts would have to kidnap Noriko and her friend as it is stated that she went missing a few days before the Ginza Incident to act according to the series' events. Also I don't know how such a giant thing like a giant ancient stone gate could get unnoticed for so long in a shopping district of such a large modern city like Tokyo, but who knows? Probably people though it was part of some kind of event of the doujin sale.**

 **Also even when Molt had received the message of the Gate's appearance on Alnus Hill at the same day, he still would have needed a bit of time to assemble his forces, which had been approximately more than 100'000 people at this time and lead them to the Gate. And let's be honest here, 470 kilometers in the time of the Roman Empire were quite a long distance (it still is by human standards, but not anymore that much with modern vehicles like cars, though it still would take hours to get there) and let's not forget that this is a straight line between both locations and obstacles on the way that force such a force to take a different route than a just straight line through the Empire. We have seen this multiple times in the anime, that most roads that are broad enough for a wagon or even an humvee to drive through are not solid roads made of stone, but simply paths of dirt, which can also hinder the advancement of troops, than we can say that the way from Sadera through the Empire to the holy grounds of Alnus Hill is not only a very long, but also not the easiest way.**

 **Now as for the lack of character sheets, I apologize deeply for this. I simply haven't finished them yet and that's actually quite depressing for me beause I normally make those before I publish the story at all. I hope I can finish them all when the next chapter comes out. Not to speak of the number of new characters in the ranks of Tartarus.**

 **Also, because I had been asked this in Reaper of a New World before, here's the Location of Vanguard's Loss. First, look at the map of the entire continent Falmart. Then you go to the east of the territory that is held by the JSDF. There is a giant forest that has a mountain range as a borderline to the grasslands that once belonged to the Warrior Bunnies. Inside that forest is Vanguard's Loss now.**

 **In any case, how do you think the story should continue? We sure have a lot of time to kill when the counter attack on the Saderan Empire happens 3 months after the Ginza Incident. Write me your opinions and suggestions in the reviews or PM me. Constructive replies are always appreciated.**

 **Also at this point I want to tell you, that unfortunately my holidays are over and that now university strikes back. I've been working on a lot of next chapters for my other stories this summer and I really want to continue writing them. However real life doesn't makes things easier for me. Meaning I'll have again little to no time writing and have to focus on studying. I hope I can upload all the different chapters that I've been working on within november., because I originally intended to update all my stories at the same time, but that mostly doesn't work. After that I'll have to look how I got time.**

 **I hope I see you next time again. Have a nice day ;)**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A plan in progress

* * *

Right after Banshee had reported about the strange structure that was simply called 'The Gate' Erebos had ordered his wyvern subordinate to stay out of sight and not risking to be detected instead of attacking the army below her. Basically she was ordered to work as a living video camera, always reporting what currently happened at The Gate. Once he and Khympholeia had finished their scouting mission, they returned to Vanguard's Loss he had ordered Helios to send additional Scouts to Banshee's assistance. Now he was observing the area within his throne room as Edo had casted [Crystal Monitor]. The spell had made a magic window appear that acted like the [Mirror of Remotive View], though Erebos didn't want to use that item right now as he still was not very familiar with it's controls. Also the [Mirror of Remotive View] could easily be destroyed and deceived. Using a magic caster siuch as Edo was easier and a safer scource of information. What he saw was a very interesting scenario.

The [Crystal Monitor] showed the situation from the bird perspective, but it was a little leaned to the side, so the dragon and his subordinates in the room saw what was going on. The Gate was indeed a large stone or marble gate, which looked like it was of ancient roman origin, save for the large blue stone in the middle of it's roof. It was big, though not big enough for Erebos to walk through it in his larger form. The fact that intrigued the dragon player the most was that the fact that the Gate seemed to be built into a mountain behind it like some sort of tunnel or entrance to a dungeon from YGGDRASIL, but the materials were very different from one another and it was pitch black inside of it. Even when the soldiers had begun their advance after a couple of hours to rest their troops from the long march it was still pitch black within the Gate and None of the soldiers seemed to bother to light up a torch or anything.

Speaking of the soldiers that the Empire had sent out, they looked quite disciplined. As a former soldier Erebos knew how people in his time were normally in such situations. Their bodies seemed to be well trained over years and the look in their eyes showed only joy for the upcoming battle. That was actually a major difference from what the dragon knew as most soldiers in his time were simply selected by their employer and got a gun and knife pried into their hands. There was no pleasure in killing and the thin threat of humanity that made most people hesitate in the moment in which they should pull the trigger. But these men were different. They might look stoic, but Erebos saw how excited they were for the bloodshed that would come.

It disgusted the dragon player. Sure he could kill without hesitation and he had no problem to order others to do so, but this look reminded him too much of his former employer for his liking. Far too much. Those rich pigs simply sat on their fat butts and never even touched a gun or have seen one with their own eyes. Instead they were far away when the bombs tore their soldiers into bloody chunks of flesh. He guessed that it was because the human soldiers at least were part of some kind of noble family like the one he had observed. Those were basically stuck up brats that never had to work for anything and lived without any troubles. And now they were thrown on a battlefield. Erebos wanted to laugh at the picture in his head of a modern brat of some rich douche being thrown into a battle before dying a horrible and painful death. His lips actually curled up into a smile at the thought.

However as he had observed these noble's children sought honor, fame and riches to most likely impress their parents, though they didn't have a clue of what war was about. There was no honor or glory, but only the fight for survival. He knew that better than any of these mutts.

After a few minutes the majority of the soldiers had walked through The Gate while a rest of the army remained as reinforcements if necessary. Erebos became slowly irritated at the fact that he wasn't able to see anything from the real battle on the other side of the Gate. And he had waited for hours now. However by every second that passed his curiousity grew. Slowly, but steadily the small part of him that wished to just jump up, cast [Gate] and walk through that Gate himself became stronger, however Erebos was anything but stupid. He had more than enough self-control to not do such a foolish thing. The nagging feeling of his own curiousity however was still present in the back of his head.

{Banshee, did you capture one of the lieutenants or generals already?} Erebos asked.

{I regretfully haven't yet Erebos sama. I shall immediately...}

{No.} Erebos cut her off. {The main purpose of this mission is to figure out what is going on with this gate and to provide reconnaissance without the Empire noticing. We have to wait for the soldiers to return from the other side and then to use a moment of unawareness to capture someone. Do you understand?} The black dragon said.

{Of course. Please forgive my lack of insight.} Banshee replied.

{It's fine. This is the first time that we are facing such a situation. However this doesn't mean you will not receive punishment for failing this easy mission. Failure will not be tolerated.} Erebos said. {Now continue your Mission. I look Forward to see the results of your work.} With that he terminated the line between him and Banshee as he looked over to Edo. "To capture a high ranked member of the military would be difficult if the Empire wouldn't be attacking right now. However in battle there is only chaos and only few people can keep a calm head in such situations. We use this chaos of the battle to simply kidnap someone from the returning soldiers and the officers on this side of The Gate to gain more Information. Through this we receive not only valuable Information about the Saderan Empire, but also what lies beyond that Gate without being noticed by either the Empire nor whatever they are fighting right now." Erebos said.

"Truly a magnificient plan. So that is why you deployed Banshee." Edo said nodding.

"Indeed. If a large black wyvern would just kidnap a soldier out of nowhere that would raise far to much Attention. A soldier that is lost in Action however is something that is in most cases not preventable. Therefore we use this as a disguise." Erebos said. "This gate will influence our further activities in this world. And it might even turn out to disturb them as well, however until we not know anything specific we need to keep a low profile. Until I order otherwise I need all of troops off Vanguard's Loss on high alert. If our presence in this world would become noticed by the Empire or any other force, we would face consequences that we might don't wish to face. Until know we still know so little about this world." Erebos said.

"Erebos-sama, what should we do if whatever is behind this Gate should pose a threat to your plans?" Edo asked in a slightly aggressive tone. The black dragon looked down the smaller hooded figure, while answering.

"We eliminate the threat before it becomes one of course." He stated in a cold tone. "But now is not the time to act hasty. For now we cannot use the Gate without being noticed and such a risky move such as sending an Expedition force over requires at least some careful planning and preparing for it first. We have no idea what is beyond the Gate. We don't know about it's orgins. The only thing that we know is that the Empire wanted for some reason to invade whatever is beyond it. For now we will observe the Situation." The dragon player explained as there was a knock on the door. "Enter." With that one of the succubus maids came inside the throne room. Her platinum blonde hair was combed into a nicely done comb as she approached the throne in her victorian maid uniform.

"Erebos-sama, Hades has arrived." She said.

"Very well. Send him in. You are dismissed." Erebos said with a slight wave of his hand to emphathise his words. The succubus bowed and left the room while the black dragon Hades walked into the room, before stopping in front of Erebos as he kneeled to him.

"You wanted to speak to me, Erebos-sama?" He asked.

"Indeed. As you know I want you to infiltrate the Empire's ranks for me since you are a dragonoid, however first we need to come up with a suitable backstory for you. That's something I've been working on." Erebos said as he reached into his inventory and pulled out a scroll. The piece of literature was quite big and thick almost like a tree trunk, but that was only because of the size regulation of YGGDRASIL items. He threw the scroll over to Hades, who caugth it effordlessly and began to read his script. After a moment he looked up and bowed towards Erebos again.

"Thank you Erebos-sama. That you would go through all of this just for such a lowly servant as me...I cannot express my gratitude in words." Hades said in awe. Erebos sweatdropped at this, but he had to confess he liked being the big boss of this dungeon.

"Raise your head Hades. We have much to do in order to make this operation work. And I expect you to do your very best Hades." Erebos said. Meanwhile his thoughts were circling around the mysterious Gate that had appeared in the southwest. ' _Given how the Empire reacted on this phenomenon this must be a not very common event. And to send an invasion force right away without investigating the area before is just downright stupid. How foolish must this emperor to sent his troops through this Gate?_ ' He thought slightly amused at the Situation, while his other half was disappointed and wanted to shake it's head. ' _In any way, I will need to leave this task to Banshee and the reinforcements I sent her way. Mhmm given their normal speed they should be able to arrive at the Gate in the night so Banshee will be on her own for today._ ' Erebos thought to himself.

It wasn't like he was not convinced of Banshee's capabilities as a suitable candidate for this task or a lack of trust in her abilities as an assassin and spy, however he had to confess that he had his doubts. It was after all Banshee's first real assignment for such a mission as her abilities were actually created for the assault of invading YGGDRASIL players who would attack Tartarus. On second thought however he was convinced that he had nothing to worry about. The other NPCs had all acted like a well oiled machine until now and had done their duties flawlessly. As a soldier he could tell that even high level YGGDRASIL players with little real combat experience would have a hard time against these dragons. It was an advantage he enjoyed to have. He could imagine that fighting with his new body would be more difficult to mentally handle than using his Interface when he had been in YGGDRASIL. It made Erebos calm his mind a little and patiently wait for his scout to take care of the matter at hand.

' _I guess meanwhile Spectra has already prepared his tools for the upcoming interogation. What could I do then? Delia is making gear, Helios is on cleaning duty, Hades is learning his script, Charon is on scouting mission and the other generals cannot be bothered with trivial matters. I guess I need to wait for Banshee to return. In the meantime I guess I can use that mirror again and watch the world a little to plan the next step. I wonder how far the capabilities of the mirror go._ ' Erebos thought to himself as he sat on the throne.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Banshee_

The large wyvern drew it's circles over the army that was assembled below her as she kept an eye on the target that she spotted in midst of the large column of men and demi human beings. The general or lieutenants she spotted wore slightly different armor and always kept their watchful eyes on the situation, however after an hour of stagnation even their patience and boredom won over the rational thoughts of the men.

The camp was a bit distanced from the Gate in order to prevent the camp to be attacked directly originating an ambush from the Gate itself. Tents and other things had been erected around Alnus Hill in order to maintain the army's needs of food, shelter and so on. Flying over the cap the wyvern noticed some of the high ranked militas straying a bit to far from the camp to dispose their wastes.

One of the humans for example stood there with his back to the camp as he urinates on a small patch of vegetation as he was unaware of the dragon like everyone else. Banshee saw her Chance immediately and dove in like a hawk. The imperial soldier had just enough time to pull up his loin cloth and readjust his belt as a pair of talons grabbed the man and lifted him up in the air.

"[Paralyse]." Banshee said, casting a low tier spell, that rendered her victim for the Close future immobile and without being able to move the man couldn't scream for help.

{Erebos-sama I've got one of the humans you asked for.} Banshee reported happily.

{Good bring him immediately to Spectra. We need this man's knowledge.} Erebos replied on the other end. Only a moment later a gate opened in mid air and Banshee threw the human inside, before the gate vanished.

{Should I capture more humans Erebos-sama?} She asked her master.

{Yes that would be benefictial for Tartarus, but don't kidnap too many. Otherwise the soldier will get suspicious. And make sure you remain hidden.} The black dragon said in a warning tone.

{Of course Erebos-sama. I'll do everything in my power to be of use for you.} She said as she went back to fly over the army's camp, looking for the next victim.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Erebos_

The black dragon ruler of Tartarus had gotten his [Mirror of Remotive View] out to observe the battle from another perspective. Though navigating with the mirror was rather hard, he did manage (even if he had to take quite far arcs around his destination instead of a straight line) to find the Gate on his mirror. Also the four dragon generals and Helios had joined Erebos as he wished to consult his next actions with them.

"Alright. It looks like everyone is here. My subjects and creations, I've summoned you here to discuss the recent actions that have occured. The Empire has launched an attack on an unknown region beyond this obviously magical Gate. These news are as unnerving as they are important and they need to not delayed." Erebos said making the dragons look at one another, exchanging looks like unspoken conversations as Erebos continued. "We don't know much about this Gate. We don't knew where it leads to nor how it came into being. However we cannot ignore the fact that the Empire has mobilized it's Forces to fight this unknown enemy. The result of this battle will determine the course that our actions will take of course." He said.

"Now I've not only summoned you here to just look at this battle that we cannot see. I wish to be updated about a not very urgent matter to say so." Erebos said. "As you know the key in sucess of a battle is not only strength, but also wits. And that includes to inform yourself about an enemy before instead of charging in blindly. However something I'm afraid to not know about is our own troop strength." He said.

"What do you wish us to do Erebos-sama?" Helios asked. "Give the order and we will crush the empire beneath our Talons." Erebos rose a Hand at this.

"Not yet Helios. First we need to know more. However what I ask you to do is to give me a full Report about all troops under our command. Each of you is a General, a leader of our troops on the battlefield. I wish to know what you lead, how many of them are there and how strong they are. With that we can plan future experiments as well." He said. All five Dragons bowed down in Response.

"YOUR WILL SHALL BE DONE OH GREAT CREATOR EREBOS-SAMA!" They said in unison. Erebos was slightly tacken aback by the once more upflaring devotion of his subordinates, before grinning inwardly.

"In that case we should have no problems." He said as he turned his attention back to the mirror. He noticed that now imperial soldiers stomred out of the Gate, looking like the devil himself was after them.

{Erebos-sama, I caught two more men as the soldiers started to retreat. They seem to be very scared. Should I bring a few to Tartarus as well?}

{Of course Banshee. Now you are allowed to take more of them, but remain unseen.} Erebos said.

{It shall be done.} Banshee replied as the connection was served. The panicked reactions of the men were not unnoticed by the other Dragons in the room, who chuckled slightly at their behaviour.

"Spineless Worms. They cower in the face of defeat despite being soldiers. Humans surely are pathetic creatures." Vulcanus said.

"True. Humans have hardly anymore use than to be labor and sometimes livestock for other creatures. I ask myself how they were able to survive this long." Kympholeia said.

"Perhaps they are not even worth to worship Erebos-sama." Gaia said.

"They were defeated and not many soldiers have come back. Their losses are high and this leaves them in state that would make it easy for any creature of Tartarus to kill them." Aeolus said.

"Then they truly are nothing but imbeciles. To lose so many soldiers would mean that they have lost the missing ones as a result of over-confidence. Their own pride got in their way and now they have lost so many of their own. Stupid apes. Even with their whole army they would be no true opponent against any of us at much less Erebos-sama" Helios muttered, but everyone heard him and nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile Erebos looked at the retreating army with interest and slight amusement. It was obvious to him that they were trained soldiers and had for their Standards probably the most advances gear to attack whatever was beyond this Gate, however the result was the same. The once much larger army had been reduced to this rather pathetic state with it's warriors' spirits broken and those that were not had no idea what was beyond the Gate. The dragon player had to agree with Helios. As far as he could see the empire didn't posed a threat to him or Tartarus at all, however hiding someone's claws was the key of a sucessful fight. He simply couldn't rule out that out there was something that was strong enough to become a threat.

Still he couldn't help, but look at the human army like at a bunch of ants. From what knowledge he had gathered so far the Empire was around this continent for several of centuries already. In this time it had basically done nothing, but spreading it's influence across this continent, leading to the current Situation with it's technological advancement and it's Relations with the smaller nations around it. And that was where Erebos saw the error.

The Empire had been too long the dominant force on Falmart without ever having to fear a true opponent that easily could defeat them. In their arrogance of being the strongest there is and could ever be, the Empire had sent it's Forces to the Gate and never even considered the possibiliy of losing. That was the reason why the Empire had failed so miserably. On Earth however that was a different story. Because the rich people, that never fought their conflicts themselves, always had to fear that their adverseries had somekind of hidden trump card in their sleeve. That was why spionage and sabotage were very common in their wars. Now it was debatable how far these two methods could be established with a nation like the Saderan Empire, but Erebos was sure that assassination, spying and stealing valuable Information and even technology were something these people were not unfamiliar with.

As the army kept retreating towards their comerades in the camp around Alnus Hill, Banshee had contacted her master and creator once more.

{Erebos-sama, I was able to catch a few more of the retreating soldiers. Should those other 16 people be enough?} She asked. Erebos was quite surprised to hear that. To capture 16 people without anyone noticing it in such a chaos like this was not a small feat at all. He grinned at this. His creation had just exceeded his expectations.

{Very good Banshee. That would be enough. Return to your Observation duty and come back here once the reinforcements have arrived.} He said.

{Of course Erebos-sama.} Banshee replied. Erebos mused to himself as a huge amount of pride swelled up in his chest.

' _So that's what parents feel when their children made progress. Interesting. Wait did I just indirectly referred Banshee as my daughter?_ ' He thought as he looked at the NPCs around him. The generals were still talking about what to do next while Edo stood at the sidelines and observed them and Erebos as if he was waiting for him to be called. Each of them was created by Erebos' hands. Their minds and bodies shaped after his ideas. And thus was Tartarus and the gear of each custom NPC inside of this dungeon. ' _Well technically they don't have biological parents so there is only me. And from what this one guy told me gods did refer their creations mostly as their own children in the mythologies of Earth. Huh? And suddenly I have several children that are all easily older than myself. Quite interesting._ ' He thought. He then decided to smack his tail against the floor lightly, causing all chatter to die down immediately.

"When everyone has calmed down now I would like to say a thing or two about the next stage of our plan." Erebos said. The NPCs immediately kneeled down and bowed their heads.

"Please forgive us Erebos-sama. We shall not fail you again." Helios said in a completely devoted voice as if a crusader would pray to his god.

"Umu." Erebos nodded. "Now then, as you have been briefed already I need a full list of all forces of Tartarus in order to be able to plan our next move. Now I'd like the lists to be finished this evening so you won't have much time to finish it. I suggest you to start immediately. Oh and before I forget it." Erebos added. "All of you are needed to be present on a Meeting here tonight at midnight. Your presence is necessarry. You are dismissed now." Erebos said.

"Hai Erebos-sama!" The dragons said in unison before leaving the throne room. The player then turned to Edo.

"As for you Edo, I would need you to collect the lists of the generals in the evening before the meeting begins. If you need to report something, I'll be in my room." Erebos said as he stood up.

"Of course Erebos-sama." With that the last two occupants of the room left and headed into opposite directions. Erebos then walked through the hallways of the underground castle into his room. But not before contacting another of his creations.

"Charon, I believe I have a special job for you to do." He said with an evil glint in his eyes.

* * *

 _Sometime later at the 6th floor of Vanguard's Loss_

Slowly opened the eyes of the man as he felt consciousness return to him. His eyelids were heavy and his limbs ached in protest to be moved in any kind of way. Still he lifted his head up slowly, as a stinging pain came from the back of his neck. His vision was still blurry and his mind tried to piece together what had happened, but slowly his vision got sharper until it was clear again.

He was in a large and dark room. The floor, the walls and the ceiling probably too were made of stone as the man couldn't see the ceiling, because of the darkness in the room. There were several glowing objects on the walls, but they were no lamps, candles or torches. There was no smell of smoke or the like. The strange objects were just glowing in a dimmed green light. The man presumed it to be some kind of magic artifact as he tried to move his arm, but after it had moved a little it was suddenly stopped.

Just then the man realised that his arms and legs were restrained by chains. Slightly panicking he looked around himself now. He wasn't hanging from a wall, but his arms and legs were still tied up with chains that he barely felt. Almost instantly jumping on his feet, he tried to pull the chains of his wrists and ankles, but it was useless. The chains, which were disappearing into holes the wall simply didn't budged. Despair took over his mind as he began to clung to his pride as a proud soldier of the Empire and shouted.

"Hey! Undo these chains right now! I'm a soldier of the emperor!" He shouted as he demanded his freedom. Just at this moment he heard several groans and even screams of fear and panic. Trying to pear through the darkness around him the imperial soldier could hear small sounds.

"What is this?!"

"Where are we?"

"What happened!"

"I'm the son of a duke! I demand an explanation!"

Then the man realised it. He wasn't the only capative inside this dark dungeon. However just as his hope flared up a little the lights became much brighter and the whole room was illuminated. The men groaned in protest at the sudden and drastic change of light intensity that penetrated their eyes as they looked up. What they saw made their blood run cold.

On tools, that had clearly the sole purpose of torture, were the corpses of some of their allies. A dead man was sitting on a chair with restrains to keep the victim in place. The lower arms and the legs had been removed and now laid in bloody pieces in front of the chair. A second corpse had been impaled on dozens of metal spikes on a bench. The blood had long turned dark and only the driping of a few drops once in a while joined the rest on the floor, where the liquid ran between the stone tiles into a simple vent.

Lastly there was the most terrifying thing in the entire room. On some kind of metal table laid another imperial man. His arms and legs seemed to have been removed as well as his entire stomach had been cut open, making entrails and ribs sticking out as the ribcage must have been opened. In the head stuck multiple needles and the head had many stiches on it, to close the once opened cuts. However what made this the most terrifying thing of them all was the face of the man. His eyelids hade been removed, alongside the lips and the skin on his cheeks, showing his teeth to the other prisoners. Tears ran down the man's face as he seemed look at the others. Then there was a twitch of the eye. It looked around and the stumps that once had been arms and legs moved as the restrains couldn't hold them anymore.

"He-help m-me..." He begged. Now that made everyone's skin crawl. The man on this table was still alive! A few of the soldiers couldn't take the stress and the horrible pictures any longer and threw up on the ground.

"Wha-What is this?"

"Did the enemy took us hostage?"

"I CAN'T ANYMORE! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!"

The reactions were all very similiar, yet they shared the same origins. Confusion, shock, fear and most importantly helplessness. Just then another voice joined the tormented prisoners.

"Oh finally awake I see." A voice in an unknown language said as the soldiers looked around, but found nothing. The skinned man on the operation table was squirming like a worm within a bird's beak, however in vain as he could no longer move or hope to escape. "Don't worry. I won't simply kill you right away. Instead it will be long and agonizing for you as you will cling to those last shreds of sanity that will remain. You will be of great use for-Erebos sama. I hope he will be pleased." The voice said as the speaker stepped into the light.

It was this moment, that the imperial soldiers truly knew the definition of despair.

* * *

 _Meanwhile_

Erebos felt a shiver running down his spine as he looked around himself. He was in his room. Like the throne room it was a rather big room with a high ceiling to house his massive height if necessary, however he was currently in his human sized form, making it easier to navigate around. The furniture was exclusively made of many high level materials. Ebony wood and white alabaster colored the room along with an elegant red carpet and pictures of Erebos victories within YGGDRASIL. At the wall behind his desk was even a larger banner with his symbol on it. There was also a door to a seperated bed room with a massive bed that was large enough for him to sleep in, though until now the dragon player had not been able to enjoy much sleep as he was constantly working and making plans.

' _Is someone talking about me? Nah, probably just my imagination._ ' He thought as he looked through the reports of his generals.

As his roleplay role of the 'Black Dragon Ruler' Erebos had mainly made the forces of his dungeon to dragons as well. Originally he thought about adding other reptilian races on a large scale as well, but then he had the idea to simply built his own dragon kingdom in form of this dungeon with the minority of other creatures to serve him. The most custom NPCs were dragons. Many (but no all) mercenary NPCs were dragons as well and some of the pets that he had aquired from one of the guild members were (can you guess it? Correct!) dragons as they were in the minority as custom NPCs, they were still the majority of Tartarus and the strongest force they had with the exception of Charon and Caitlyn. Other NPCs such as the succubus maids were created to be more like decoration and roleplay instead of being an attack of said demons, there were 4 of them right now in his room, waiting to be called to fullfil their master's desires.

The first one was tall and had long blonde hair that flowed down her back like a waterfall of golden silk. The second one was a bit shorter and wore glasses on her nose as her brown hair was tied up in a bun. The third one was about the same height as the second one, but she lacked the glasses and her grey hair was hanging in twintails down from her head. The fourth was about the same height as a 15 year old girl. She had shoulder long, dark blue hair and a child-like face. A bat-wing like head band sat on top of her head, adding more cuteness to the petite girl's natural charm.

What each of them, except the fourth one had in common was a curvy body that would drive any weak willed man crazy. Probably so crazy that all blood in their bodies would rush in the lower regions, causing the brain to simply suffocate at the lack of oxygen. The fourth one was simply adorable in her special way, but knowing that she was a succubus as well, she probably shared her colleagues' personality that was rather common among succbi and incubi. They also wore common french maid outfits that showed enough cleavage to draw the eyes of the onlookers to them.

While Erebos had to say that each of them was looking that easily out the women from Eath into shame, he tried his best to restrain his body to go into a certain kind of action with all willpower he could muster. It wasn't because he didn't want to or something, but he simply felt not ready to do THAT with any of them as the current situation was simply too unknown to do such a many variables were still unknown and the Gate incident had proven that even such an abnormal thing was possible.

The Gate was as interesting as it was a potential danger at the same time. He had no idea what was beyond it's borders and Spectra was not finished yet with the interogation of the captured men. Sighing he looked down at the lists again and a map of the closer environment. To be honest, the map was as useful as it was inaccurate. The proportions of the landscape and distances of the cities were not really matching and it was quite hard to read since he was still working on learning the saderan language. That really disgusted Erebos. He'd rather teach the locals how to speak japanese then to have to learn an entire new language. However he knew that knowledge was power as well. From what he knew, there had been only a very selected circles of people, that ahd been able to read and write in the past, giving such people power that they could use for their own advantage. Preachers and monks for example could say whatever they wanted even if in their holy books stood the opposite of it, because common people were not able to read back then. He may still had studies to do about this empire, but he was pretty sure that common people were not as taught as for example people with a lot of money. The most important fact for him however was that the amount of knowledge that would disappear when texts and books became unreadable without being translated, before the language become extinct, would be enormous and the chance was high that he might lose some of it that would really give him advantages in this world.

Looking at the lists he mainly found dragons of course and a few other creatures at his disposal. While he could think of them being used in a party to conquer dungeons in YGGDRASIL the transportation to this world had posed a problem to the former soldier's plans. He knew that the humans in this world were no match for the spawn monsters of YGGDRASIL, however this world was not only inhabitated by sentient humanoids. The dragon riders of the empire had proven that much already. However what about demihumans such as the orcs and goblins in the imperial army? Or even other heteromorphs like himself? For now he had not seen much demi-humans in this world and seeing them serving the empire either meant that they were too weak to defend themselves or that they were simply a minority in this world either in numbers or in power.

Still Erebos would be arrogant and ignorant if he took those soldiers and mercenaries as to picture the strengths and abilities of an entire species. There were always stronger and weaker individuals and some may had skills that others had not. However the dragon simply couldn't sit still in his underground fortress and bore himself to death until his scouts would have discovered the whole world. Exploration was his thing already! The matter that really bothered him was that he had no idea how strong some of his subordinates were until he would see them in action once.

That being said he tried to figure out how to clear this uncertainty of his up. He had already a few ideas, however those would require a certain amount of time, that he did not have. The 'Attack on the Gate' (got it?) had left the empire in crippled state. This was a dangerous time for the Empire and Erebos was sure that now any other power, that was aware of the recent events, was looking at the Saderan Empire like a predator at a defenseless prey animal. Erebos' soldier insitincts told him that now would be the perfect time to begin an attack on the Empire, however though his finger twitched slightly he controlled his bloodlust this time.

The militaric situation of the Empire was indeed ideal, however he still had not enough reason to attack the Empire in the open. No, what was needed in this situation was a cunning plan. And Erebos had a such plan already in motion. It just would take a bit more time. Just a few days and everything would hopefully fall into the right spaces of the puzzle. Instead he turned his head to the succubus maids, who immediately perked up under the black dragon's gaze.

"Is there anything you require Erebos-sama?" The blonde maid asked with a honey-sweet voice.

"Yes there would be something. I need to prepare something on the 4th floor of Vanguard's Loss in order to improve our defenses." Erebos said as he put an envelope in front of his desk. "This is a list of things that I require. Pass it over to Helios as he should be on the 1st floor. Also I need reports from Deliah and Spectra about the progress of their projects. Would three of you mind to do that?" Erebos asked. Immediately all four jumped up at this as they seemed to be overjoyed to have the chance to prove their usefulness.

"Of course Erebos-sama. We'll be right away." The blonde demon said bowing forward in respect. However due her clothes Erebos got a really could view on her cleavage, that almost looked like it was trying to break free from it's restrains. The dragon player who was all, but inexperienced in this kind of field, but tried his best to not stare at her or 'them'.

"I see." Erebos said as he handed the envelope over to the succubus, who grabbed it and was immediately storming out the room alongside the other two mature looking succubi, leaving the dragon with the loli succubus. ' _This was officially weirder than my sudden attraction to rare metals._ ' Erebos thought as he looked at the succubus who seemed to now realize what had happened.

"UWAH! HOW COULD I HAVE LOST TO THEM?! I NEED TO...to..." The maid basically screamed, before becoming quitely as she realized that all tasks had been taken care of while she looked at Erebos. The dragon player sighed.

"You. Come here for a moment." The dragon said as he gestured the succubus to his desk. Her cheeks basically glowed in a rosy shade of red as she looked down herself. She was rather uncomfortable and looked down her fingers that fumbled around nervously. ' _What's wrong with her? I didn't say she is about to be execute or something now did I?_ ' The dragon sighed at this. "Take a seat." Erebos said gesturing to the chair.

"B-but Erebos-sama, that is too disrespectful..." The bluenette exclaimed as Erebos shot her a glare.

"And I think it is rather disrespectful to not follow the orders of your superior." The dragon said as the succubus shook in fear and sadness as she dropped on the chair and lowered her gaze in shame. The dragon swore he saw tears dwelling up in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry Erebos-sama." She said.

"If you really are sorry then I'd like you to make up for this." Erebos said as he summoned a chess board on his desk. The item was rather a trash item that he had picked up somewhere and he had no use for it since he was alone in this dungeon, however it was perfect for this experiment. "Say are you aware of the rules of chess?" He said with a smile. The succubus looked at her master with confusion before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not." She said. Erebos nodded at this as he thought about this situation. The most of the succubus maids were basically mercenary monsters, that had been summoned to the dungeon's defense. Now the real name of these monsters was Succubus Valkyres, a type of demonic monsters above Level 30 to the borderline of 40, as their maid uniforms were basically decoration, which made it more pleasant to look at them instead of always seeing them patrol around the corridors of Loss with drawn weapons. Each of them could still fight within their maid clothes, however they did possess armor to fight as well. Their different appearance had been part of the game to not create a lot of identical looking NPCs **(Such as the Nurse Joys from the Pokémon franchise. I can't be the only one who thinks of that being weird.)**.

Within YGGDRASIL existed skins to decorate NPCs to make them look differently such as a skin that could give a True Vampire, an high level undead and the final link of the vampric races' Evolution line, who normally possessed a lamprey or leech-like face and a simian like body, a human appearance. To aquire them was difficult if one missed the chance within the game and that normally aquired a lot of money. Erebos however had been at the right time at the right place as he got the skin by chance.

However there was something that Erebos did notice ever since he had been brought to this world. The mercenary system of YGGDRASIL had two simple purposes, that were on one Hand the defense of dungeons and on the other Hand the possibility to allow single Players to create groups. However there was a big drawback, that made custom NPCs much better companions than mercenary NPCs. The A.I. that used to control the behaviour of the monsters was the worst in normal spawn mobs, making them brainless cannon fodder with only limited possible commands. After that came mercenary NPCs and finally custom NPCs, that needed that much intelligence in order to coordinate their abilities and attack patterns and to make them matching a potential programming within the NPCs personality.

With that mercenary NPCs such as this succubus had only been able to fulfill a few more complex tasks. Now however this was no more the game that Erebos had known. And this demon was now more than just a NPC. She was an actually living and breathing being. A living demon with the mental capacity of an ordinary human being. And that made Erebos wonder about her capabilities. The dragon then grabbed one of the white pieces at his side of the board.

"The rules are simple. Both of us have these figures and the goal of this game is to take out this one piece. The king." Erebos said opening his palm to show the succubus the piece. The bluenette nodded. "Now this is basically a simulation game of a battle between two armies, but very simplified. It is a turn based startegy game, meaning that each of us can only do one move of our pieces at once. After a move is made the opponent has it's turn. Now their is one very important thing for you to know. Each of these pieces has the same strength though having different capabilities, meaning that you can strike down every piece of your opponent no matter if it is a pawn, a knight or even a king with every piece that you have as long as you don't break the rules."

"I see. So it isn't really realistic?" The succubus asked.

"Of course not, however it is despite being so simple a very good Simulation. Now then let's begin..." Erebos said as he began his game against his subordinate.

A few minutes later the three maids returned to see a rather unusual scene. Their master was sitting with their 'little sister' at the table and played chess. Erebos just made a last move and put one of his bishops so that he would be able to attack the king of the succubus in the next round.

"Checkmate." The dragon said. The succubus pouted slightly. It was more cute than irritating.

"Mou. Splendid Erebos-sama. I didn't thought about this." The bluenette said. Erebos shot her a look that said as much as 'Really?'. She had the chance to win several times, but she simply had no tactic and no plan how to get past his pieces. With the rematches she had been smarter and had learned how to lure Erebos into traps using her pawns, but even then she couldn't turn the tides to her favor.

Still he had confirmed something. The NPCs were able to improve, to learn and to adapt their fighting startegy to the situation they were facing. A smile crept it's way on his face.

"Very well. I thank you for your cooperation. You have just helped me a great deal." Erebos said. The demoness blushed cherry red at this as suddenly a pair of arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her backwards.

"What have you done with Erebos-sama?!" The green-haired maid yelled in envy as she shook the younger succubi around like a ragdoll.

"Please stop! I haven't done anything with Erebos-sama!" The bluenette whined as she was getting dizzy at this point. The other two maids shot the youngest among them a glare, before putting the reports in front of Erebos, who looked rather dumbfolded at the events in front of him.

"These are the reports you asked for Erebos-sama." They said as they looked at the chess board a couple of times, wondering what had happened.

"Thank you. This is a very important for our further plans." He said as he put the chess board and the pieces away. With a flash of light they disappeared in his inventory, leaving the space free for more work

"Is there anything else you need help with? We will fulfill all your orders to satisfy your desires. No matter what it is." The blonde said Shooting Erebos a look, that made the dragon quite uncomfortable.

' _This is not counting as reverse rape yet, but it sure is sexual harrassment._ ' He thought as he waved her off, dismissing her unspoken offer. "Thank you, but it's alright. You can leave now. I'll need some time to sort things out here." Erebos said before turning to the reports of his torturer and construction droid. A little bit disappointed the four girls slumbed their shoulders and bowed, before leaving with the bluenette still being trapped in a noogie of the green-haired one. Browsing through the reports of the two he mentally sighed. ' _Seems like I won't get much sleep tonight. Damn this is so boring._ ' He thought as he looked at the already 10 centimeter high piles of paper on his desk. ' _I think I'll drop this on Edo later. For now I need to prepare for the meeting in a few hours._ '

* * *

 _A couple of hours later_

The ground level of Vanguard's Loss was completely restored within less than a day by te combined forces of all servants of the first floor of the dungeon. The stone tiles were clean, the broken wood furniture repaired and even the walls were restored as well. In front of the entrance of the dungeon hung now a large black banner with the red symbol of Erebos and Tartarus. Helios could say that he was proud of his work as he had dismissed his subordinates after receiving the letter of his master.

The time of the meeting drew closer as Hades arrived at the restored castle and gave an impressed whistle.

"You really did a fine job on this, considering how it looked before." He said. "Almost like the castle on the 6th floor.

"You flatter me Hades, however I wonder if Erebos-sama will like it. After all it maybe isn't the castle in the cave, but it still should be worthy for our master to walk through it." Helios said somewhat concerned. Not long after that the two dragons could feel how a third person came closer to the castle as the door opened, revealing Banshee.

"Oh hello Banshee I see you have arrived again." Hades said, shooting his subordinate a look. The black wyvern grumbled a little.

"Of course I did. Would you expect me to ignore an order of our creator Erebos-sama?" Banshee said in a kind of offended tone. Helios and Hades chuckled at this as they watched her react. The bond of the three could be described as that of siblings. The black dragon finally shook his head.

"I'd never dream of that. Now come, Erebos-sama is waiting in the throne room and Charon has already arrived." He said as the three of them walked of as fast as they could. Helios had no worries about guarding the Only a few minutes later the three dragons were flying to the castle's entrance where the succubus maids opened the reptiles the doors guided them to the throne room. A loud knock was enough to receive an "Enter." from Erebos and the three of them walked inside.

The entire throne room was occupied by several high ranked servants of Tartarus. Not only the generals that were at the sides of Erebos, but also the succubus maids, Caitlyn, Deliah, Edo and Charon. The three Newcomers went to the dullahan before bowing down as well. Erebos wordlessly looked at them, sitting on his large throne in his full height. It was a picture that made even the tallest of them pale in comparison to their creator who sat there like an olympic god, observing his creations. The black dragon opened his mouth and began the meeting.

"Servants of Tartarus. I've called forth this meeting of us to discuss the recent events that we had been able to follow so far. I've read all your reports and I'm content with them. You did well." Erebos said before turning to Helios. "And you as well Helios by repairing the ground level of our dungeon. I've received word from Edo already about your work and I've got to say that I'm satisfied with it. You did a good Job." Erebos said.

"I'm not worthy such praise Erebos-sama." He said, bowing his head down even further.

"Raise your head Helios." Erebos said, making the dragonoid look up again. "The same can also be told about you Charon. Your scouting missions make it a lot easier for us to get a grasp of our surroundings. I'd like to say my thanks for your effords as well." The player said. The undead bowed down at this.

"I only did as I was told to Erebos-sama. Your humble words on me are wasted. I live to serve you." Charon said. Erebos nodded at this in understanding manner before he returned with his gaze at the other occupants of the room.

"Now, let us move on to the reason I've called all of you here today, with the expectation of certain members. As all of you are aware by now, the Saderan Empire has launched an attack on the Gate and was defeated. Now their military strength is crippled it is time to begin with putting our plan into motion. For all of you who are not aware of it by now, I'll ellaborate now." Erebos said. "We have been transported to an unknown world without any clue about how or why we were summoned here. We don't know if it was a natural phenomenon of this world or perhaps a result of the end of YGGDRASIL. YGGDRASIL is gone, but we remain. And now we are here in an unknown world completely on our own. However I see this as a chance for not just myself, but Tartarus as a whole. Once I've conquered this dungeon far away from other people within Nidavenir in order to not be disturbed by others." Erebos said. "Now however the conditions have changed and with it we must adapt our strategies as well." The player added. The servants of Tartarus looked at one another at this point. "Now listen well as this will be the course of action that we are going to follow." The dragon player said. Every NPC basically hung at his lips at this point as they were very curious what their next orders were.

* * *

 _A couple of days later_

The message of their sons having fallen in battle or going missing in action arrived a few days after the battle at Alnus Hill at the cities of the nobles. Immediately the concerned parents took what they needed and travelled to the capital Sadera to get answers about the whereabouts of their children. It was an understandable reaction given the circumstances that lead to this Event. At first the Empire had assembled all available soldiers in order to build an army that had consist almost all the Empire's forces. Questionable enough as well was the fact that in these letters the reason why the people should come at all wasn't stated at all, however with their loyalty and devotion to their Emperor Molt they could hardly refuse.

Meaning the nobles didn't even knew why their sons had died or what for except the Empire's glory. Humans were very social animals after all and naturally looked out for those that they called their friends and kin. Civilisation itself was based on this very fundamental concept as well. So it was understandable that the nobles had immediately taken what they needed and took their fastest carriages to go to the far away Sadera.

3 days after the battle at Alnus Hill had passed as the all nobles in the eastern part of the Empire had departed that actually sought to understand what had happened. Little could they have known that this was the last time they would see their lands like this.

On top of high walls stood a group of city guards at midnight, trying to peer through the darkness of the night with the little torches they had. However it was a rather useless efford. The darkness was as thick as the city's walls and the little torches were only the glowing of fireflies in comparison of a deep sea margin as the new moon night gave no light except for a few stars that managed to pear through the clouds above the ground.

"Damn, I wish I'd have gone with the nobles' brat. Than I'd at least not be stuck here." Whined one guard as he leaned on his spear. His eyelids were heavy and only the light of the torches kept him awake.

"Stop whining already and keep looking. I've heard bandits have raided a few of the villages not far away from here a few weeks ago. Damn scum." Another one barkes, smacking the first one on the back of the head as if he was trying to smack the tiredness out of the man.

"Huh? What was that for Paulus? I thought you'd understand this." The first guard asked.

"Will you two shut it for once?" A third guard butted in. "We are still on guarding duty and have a town to protect."

"Yeah, yeah I get it." The first guard said. "I think I just need some wine to come back to senses." The young man almost reached out for a certain wine pot as another hand grabbed the handle. Following the large hand and the attached arm up the three guards came face to face with the captain of the guard. All three men tensed up at this.

"If that's the case I'll just throw you into the next well!" He barked, making a few of the nearby guards flinch at the tone of the man. A bit further another pair of guards watched the senior berating the others about their sloppy display of guarding a city that would make their ancestors look in shame at them.

"Geez, that old Servius is a bit hard to the new recruits." One man said to the other.

"Well, he has to. Remember how we were back then? Two good for nothings, always looking for Trouble. I still feel the stings of that damn Servius." The other replied.

"And now look at us. Two proud guardsmen of this city. Isn't that bad, don't you think?" The first man replied.

"Sure is, but I hope for your sake, that you are not only saying that to the maidens of our lord to hit on them." The other replied, making his colleague frown.

"Well I hadn't luck with them yet, but it sure has it's perks for the other women." He replied, smiling slightly to himself.

"You are unbelievable."

"And you are too narrow minded."

Both men looked at one another as suddenly a guard ran past the two towards the captain. As he approached the man he skidded to an halt, almost falling to the ground and loosing his shoes. They couldn't see what the man was talking about, but given the body language it was nothing good. Once the courier affirmed his report with a nod, Servius pushed him out of his way as he began shouting orders.

"All men to their posts! We are-"

 **BOOM**

A sudden thundering sound cut the captain off as the entire wall shook violently. The guards only watched in complete horror as a large fireballl rose up into the nightsky like a sun, followed by screams of the guards at the place where the explosion occured. The entire wall shook at this as the men struggled to keep their balance. A few of them planted their spears into the ground to not fall down. Some unfortunate souls however fell of the edge of the wall into the darkness below, where something tore the men apart. Only the sound of blood splattering on the ground and pained screams filled the night air at this. The other guards were terrified at this.

"GRROOAARR!" A thundering roar rang through the air, drawing all eyes up into the sky when a massive shadow flew over their heads. In the pitch black night they could see what it was, but the heavy beating of wings and the ferocious gaze that the creature held was enough to make some of the guards soil their undergarments. Flames suddenly licked out the jawline of the creature as it released a breath of bright orrange flames. In the moment that the flames escaped the creature's throat and set houses and streets alike ablaze, the light was enough for the guuards to see what their opponent was.

Two large wings set on the back of the quadroped reptile as it used the wall as a platform while starting numerous fires in the city. Despite the massive heat that the flames emitted a chill ran down the men's spines before the screams of the civilians tore them out their thoughts. Immediately the captain began to bark orders.

"ALL MEN GET DOWN THE WALL AND EVACUATE THE CIVILIANS! BOWMEN, SHOOT THAT DAMN DRAGON!" He said as he shook like a leave in the wind. The soldiers were like rooted to the ground, a feeling of primal fear kept them paralysed save for those that followed the instructions and shook the others out their stupor.

"Come on let's go!" A guard yelled over the screams and flames as he shook his friend, who nodded. But just as the second man wanted to make a move his body froze. He suddenly couldn't breath as well, rrendering him uselessly standing there confused. Unable to understand it his Vision suddenly tilted and fell as he could see not only his friend's terrifyied face, but his feet as well.

"How pathetic. If that is the best you can make of this sneak attack, then it will be more boring than I expected." An unknown, deep voice said as the men's vision turned black. The one that had spoken was Standing right behind the headless corpse of the guard. Light brown scales covered the body as a tail helped the body to balance. In it's clawed Hands it held two katanas with hooks at the tips' backside. Yellow eyes with slit pupils looked at the petrified man for a moment, before another slash of the Long weapons split the imperial soldier into from the right side of the waist to the left shoulder. A last outcry of pain escaped the man's throat, warning his colleagues about the reptilian attacker. The men of the empire had never seen such a creature before so they acted on instinct. They surrounded it and pointed their spears and swords at it.

"Kill it! Kill that lizard already! For the Empire!" One of the guards shouted. All men rushed at the lizardman at once, however only to be cut down by the longswords, that easily tore through wood, steel and flesh alike. With two simple slashes the men had lost their unprotected legs and their heads, making everyone of them hit in four different parts the ground. The lizardman sheated his swords before looking at teh destruction that the dragon had caused so far as it now was thrashing around the mansion of the noble.

"For the Supreme One." He said before charging back into the fight by leaping down the wall.

Meanwhile the city's streets were filled with people that had fled from the flames. Some had ran back into their burning homes to save anything that they deemed valuable enough to risk their lifes for it. Soldiers ran around to bring the civilians to a safer place. Children were crying and clinging to their mothers. The whole ciy was like a burning beehive. However in this burning chaos everyon noticed as the gate of the town was broken apart by a large scaled claw. Another pierced through the Wood as both claws now tore the gate apart revealing a large wingless dragon, which announced it's entrance with a mighty roar. The people of the city responded with cries of fear and panic as they ran away from the now arrived behemoth, while the soldiers ran towards it trying to push it back..

However that was not the one the people should have been afraid of. As soon as the wingless dragon had pushed it's large body through the gate a dozen armed lizardmen with staffs, swords and various weapons marched into the town. The dragon only remained at the gate to prevent anyone to leave the town again. Like on an invisible command the lizardmen warriors began to run towards the human soldiers. Their weapons broke apart like matches and not even a second later blood began to fly.

A tail whip broke a man's neck with a loud crack.

A war pick crushed he skull of another.

A naginata slit another man's throat, before impaling another one's chest.

A throwing knife embedded itself in another one's skull.

Meanwhile the mages among them fired bolts of lightning, ice, fire and poison at the defenders and civilians.

After only 5 minutes the defenders had realized that they stood no chance against this enemy. Panicking they tried to run, but icicles simply punched right through their armored back and produced again from their chests. The accuracy with which each attack hit was like that of a high professional sniper. When the last man fell the lizardmen with the two katanas arrived at the scene with blood stained swords.

"How's the situation?" He asked another lizardman warrior.

"The guards have been defeated. The cowards and civilians have fled to the center of the city." The other lizardman replied. The first one noticed slight cuts and a few of them were bleeding, but there were no heavy injuries or dead ones.

"I see. You know the orders. No witnesses." He said as the sounds of dozens of cries in pain and fear tore through the air accompanied with the sound of a flame hissing as it claimed it's victims. The lizardmen didn't care for that. They had only one mission and that was fulfilled now. Still not wanting to leave the end of this task to some havoc causing dragon the troop began to walk through the burning streets looking for survivors. In that moment a pair of lizardmen came to them as well, however they rode on small dragons which stood more like cats than lizards.

At the mansion the dragon that had arrived first at the city was crunching on the corpses of the now burnt to death humans. The stench of burnt flesh and smoke was heavy in the air, making it hard to breathe, however the dragon didn't care. In that moment the armored form of Helios descended upon the destroyed lawn and made his way towards the entrance of the mansion.

Meanwhile, not far away from the town stood Erebos next to Edo and Hades as he observed on 4 other locations the exact same picture. Burning and collapsing buildings, debris and dead people littering the ground as well as large pillars of thick black smoke rising up from the flames. What all these place had in common were that they were 1) led by a noble family and 2) were within a 200 km radius to the south of Tartarus new location. What may have seen to be a reckless move by the Player, that could blow his cover, however it was more like an experiment to Erebos that was necessary for his plan.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _"Now listen well as this will be the course of action that we are going to follow." The dragon player said. Every NPC basically hung at his lips at this point as they were very curious what their next orders were. "Within the short time that we have been here and thanks to the effords of Spectra, Charon and everyone else we've been able to collect a lot of Information about the Saderan Empire, which controls the territory we are currently in. If we were just a bunch of homeless creatures, we would either be forced out this nation's territory or to bow down to them. However not only is it a fact that Tartarus will never bow down without a fight, we've been able to also get to known a lot about the social structure of this nation. Edo if you please?" Erebos said as the hunched cloaked Person spoke up._

 _"The Saderan Empire or just the Empire, a templament of their foolishness and arrogance, is the most powerful nation on this continent called Falmart by the natives. It is a monarchy led by the current emperor, who has all power of the nation. Though there is a senate, it's power is limited and weaker compared to the emperor's own. Especially the people in the capital believe in the supremancy of mankind above all over races. From what we have gathered it is not uncommon for the commanding humans within the Empire to abuse their power even against members of other human races such as elves." Edo said." More importantly they tame small blue dragons for their aerial forces and see dragons in general as nothing, but mindless animals."_

 _An uproar of protests rang through the throne room as several people saw that as an insult as well as a declaration of war. The air grew more and more tense as Erebos had enough and struck the ground with his axe._

 _"Silence!" The room fell silent within an instance. "I can understand your fury, but we cannot just destroy the Empire just because of that." The NPCs looked more or less shocked or at least suprised at their creator and master, before the black dragon continued. "That however doesn't mean that I'll tolerate such a behavior towards myself nor any of Tartarus' forces." He said as he struck the ground once more with the guild weapon. "Their insolence will be punished and it will be punished so hard that they wouldn't even dare to speak ever again in any kind of disrespect about our kin. I shall not tolerate being looked down upon by pathetic beings such as humans! They will never dare to step across their borders as we crush them slowly. Their arrogance will be their downfall." Erebos said as he rose the axe into the air, pointing above the NPCs as if he was giving an army the order to attack a place ahead. "From this day forward we consider the Saderan Empire as our current rival and enemy! We will not stop until we have brought it to their knees and crushed them nderneath our feet so they would never dare to rise up again. Anyone, who objects this decision may speak now."_

 _Silence reigned the air within the throne room as all NPCs simply kneeled in acknowledgement of the new order._

 _"Erebos-sama, in your Name we shall destroy this filthy Nntion and burn it to the ground." Edo said._

 _"All hail the supreme being Erebos-sama!" The NPCs said in unison. Inwardly, Erebos laughed like a crazy maniac._

 _'This is the best, BEST thing, that ever could have happened to me. Ever.' He thought as he silenced the crowd by raising his hand. _"In all honesty, I'm speechless. I'm truly moved by your devotion. I could not ask for better servants and I'm proud to call myself your master and creator." Erebos said as he sat down again. "Now to the plan. The easiest way to obtain our Goal would be to just go to Sadera and kill everyone who opposes us starting with the Emperor. However if we would simply burn down this entire Empire and kill everyone that is unfortunate to cross our path we would win nothing but a Smoking pile of ashes that we would have to rebuilt from scratch. And since we don't possess the rescources to do so we cannot do such a thing." Erebos said.__

 _ _"Then what would be our plan, if I may ask Erebos-sama?" Banshee asked.__

 _ _"Glad that you ask Banshee." Erebos said. "For our plan to work we need to infiltrate the empire's ranks as high as we can. By having an agent within the enemy's ranks we gain much more information and opportunities. An ordinary civilian would never have the privelige to ascend high up into the social structure, leaving us with only the nobles as a good kickstart. However, to disguise ourselves as nobles and go into the Empire won't be easy. Basically if we say a wrong name we will be discovered and if we say an existing name we will be questioned." Erebos said as the NPCs looked at one another to find a solution for this matter. "Which is why we must destroy this possibility." Erebos added. "Not far from our territory are a few rather unimportant noble households, that controls the settlements surrounding Vanguard's Loss' location. When we wipe this scum from the face of this planet and everyone that might endanger this plan, we will be able to get one of us into the Empire's lines, while the others work elsewhere." Erebos said.__

 _ _"Then should we send our troops to this noble immediately?" Helios asked. Erebos shook his head.__

 _ _"No. If we would strike now we would only get the attention of the Empire. We need to be more secretive about this." Erebos said. "Also I have a certain idea that I'd like to test. Are all of you Aware of the structure within Tartarus?"__

 _ _"Of course Erebos-sama." Charon replied.__

 _ _"Well care to Elaborate?" The black dragon asked, though it was more an order.__

 _ _"Very well. As we all know, you, our creator, Erebos-sama stand above all else. After you come the four generals that are in charge for the main forces of Tartarus. Individuals such as Helios, Edo and myself are excluded from these as we act as moderators of the forces to ensure the functionality of Tartarus." Erebos nodded at this. "The Special ops Team under Hades is such a group as well. After the generals come appointed lieutenants and finally the common soldiers."__

 _ _"Correct Charon. Now what can you tell me about the two lowest kinds of members in this dungeon?"__

 _ _"They are spawn and mercenary monsters that are used as soldiers and therefore make the majority of our troops Erebos-sama." The dullahan replied.__

 _ _"Once again correct." Erebos said turning to the other NPCs as well. "I'll be honest about this matter. Until now the spawn NPCs had the sole purpose of defending Loss against invaders. However now that we are in this new world I've my doubts..." He said as the mercenary NPCs like the succubus maids looked down at this in shame. "if that is the only thing we can use them for." The heads snapped up again as the dragon inwardly smirked. "I'm more than confident that each soldier of this dungeon is a match for anything this Saderan Empire will throw at us, however I'd like to put their abilities to a test. Helios." Erebos said looking at the armored dragonoid.__

 _ _"Of course." Helios replied. "Tomorrow we will start preparing our troops for a test to determine their abilities. For that reason all generals are ordered to bring certain Monsters to the 2nd floor of Vanguard's Loss as well as a group of your troops as well. We will begin this operation in a few days so we got time to go through everything." Helios said.__

 _ _"Very good." The player said. "Prepare your troops immediately. Deliah how is the status of our weaponary?"__

 _ _"Almost 60% of all our troops can be equipped immeditaley with improved gear." Came the emotionless reply of the automaton.__

 _ _"I see. Continue your work then and tell me when you are finished." Erebos said. "Now you all have heard our Goal. Now go and do your best to obtain it. Let us make Tartarus a Name that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone across this world." He said.__

 _ _"ALL HAIL EREBOS-SAMA!"__

 _Flashback ends_

The dragon looked at the battles with satisfaction. Everything had gone according to his calculations. Once the nobles had left their towns, Erebos had ordered a few of his minions to follow them to ensure that they wouldn't notice that their towns were burning. All life within a large area had been destroyed and the only once who had witnessed it were the few survivors, that were now surrounded by troops of mercenary monsters. His minions would take anything valuable and not a single words about what had happened would leave this place.

Basically everything was of use for the dragon player as he still needed a lot more information about this world. He had multiple troops, that made sure nothing would leave the cities and even necromancers to create an force of undead cannon fooder from the corpses of the dead. Spectra would take care of the interogation of the captured people. The results of that sadist were quite pleasant for the player. He wondered how he had managed to get that much out of them. He also could need a bit of the treasures, that those nobles had stored within their homes. A bit more money within his treasure chamber would definitely not do any harm.

The best part of it was that his troops had managed to do all of this without any new gear nor were there any reports of heavy injuries and deaths among his troops. Each of the cities had been attacked by another general and another type of monsters. For example while Helios had attacked with these mainly reptilian forces, Vulcanus had used golems to siege his target and Aeolus had taken mostly flying creatures under his wings. It once more proved that the humanoid races of this world were no match for Erebos and his forces.

Though this was good for his confidence in his troops, he still could not exclude the existence of other, more powerful foes in this world. He had already ordered some of his own troops to create magic barriers around the cities to prevent unwanted observers to witness this battle. Still the heavy thoughts were pushed aside by the flames of the burning city below.

The player was chuckling at the thought of the nobles returning to see the destruction before being killed as well. Neither they nor the Saderan Empire would receive word about this. Those that were unfortunate enough to enter the newly conquered territory would simply vanish like those ships and planes in the bermuda triangle (Yes, even in the 22nd century mankind had still no accurate idea what was going on there). And when this Empire wants to collect taxes or something, well let's just say that Caitlyn can point out a very convincing argument to even the most stubborn person. Not that those tax collectors would return to Sadera and report the new owners' existence of these lands to the emperor. No, Erebos wanted to enjoy his victory more than a simple rush of his troops across this continent. He turned his head to the moon in the sky above him. He reached out for it before balling his Hand to a fist as if he was trying to grab and crush it to dust.

' _I'll achieve something that no one else has ever done before me. No matter what this place, this whole world is now my playground. And I'll just topple those Little sand castles back into dust that the other children had left there._ ' He thought as he started laughing. "This is just too easy. I guess we will need to hold ourselves back next time."

"Erebos-sama." Charon said as he stood not far from the player on top of a skeletal dragon's back. "What should we do now?"

"Now?" Erebos asked before chuckling. "Now we wait." He said crossing his arms, while looking at the terrifying beauty of the now won battle.

It was the first victory of Tartarus against the Saderan Empire. And more would follow in the time afterwards. But not long too long after These Events a thrid faction would enter Erebos playground through the Gate. The dragon could only wait excited for them to make their move as well.

* * *

Finally! Erebos' character sheet is finished! Okay I wanted to put all of them up in this chapter, but damn it isn't easy to make new racial classes when even Kugane only has written ? in Sebas sheet. (He might change that in the future, but I'm not very confident about that.)

Name: Erebos  
Epipeth: Dragon God, Dragon Lord of Demise  
Race: Heteromorphic Race, Dragon  
Residence: Vanguard's Loss  
Karma: Negative 500 Extremely Evil

 **Class Build**  
 **Total Level**  
100

 **Racial Level**  
Elder Dragon (10)  
Ancient Dragon (5)  
Others (10)

 **Job Classes  
** Beast Lord (5)  
Berserk (5)  
Chaos (5)  
Cursed Knight (5)  
Minimum (5)  
Single Strike (5)  
Warlock (5)  
Warlord (5)  
World Champion (I don't know if this is a class with only 1 level or if the maximum is 5, so I'll go with 5)  
Others (30)

 **Stats**  
HP: 130  
MP: 90  
Physical Attack: Beyond Limits  
Physical Defense: 103  
Agility: 76  
Magical Attack: 86  
Magical Defense: 84  
Resistance: 71  
Special: 80  
Total: 720 +

(I hope I'll have finished them next time ;-;)

* * *

 **And finally done! That took so long to write I almost ran out of ideas. Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Reign Supreme. Now put your opinions and suggestions in the reviews so I can improve the story. I'm also thinking about doing a timeskip of the three months that the JSDF needed to prepare for the counter attack on the Empire, however I also want to put a few good scenes within this time.**

 **Actually I wanted to upload this yesterday already as a christmas present, however the family kept me rather busy. Now then I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! See you next time X3**

 **(Note to everyone. That were still not all NPCs within Tartarus ranks. So don't think that it was already done with them.)**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Infiltration

The nation of the Saderan Empire controlled more than a half of the entire continent of Falmart. It's borders reached a majority of the coasts of the continent itself as well as several Islands, that were either completely occupied or at least to a large part by the empire, while the great nation was surrounded by smaller, but not weaker nations, that wouldn't take lightly on an assault of their borders. They were already forced into vassalation by the Empire, however with a nation this big problems were doomed to arise. The transportation of troops and goods for example. Falmart had not many large streams that could be used for ships and long travels across the land were tricky. A lone carriage with goods was like a carcass, that only invited the vultures to come by. The roads were also not very solified outside the settlements and the transportation of troops was not easy either. While each soldier knew how to use a weapon, set up a camp and handle bad weather, there were still obstacles on the way, that the legions of the empire had to move around. To sent soldier from one end of the Empire to another would take weeks, months even, depending on their equipment, the distance they had to cross and the route they would need to take even without having to diverge from the original plan. Not to mention the dangers, that could befall the travelling men.

With other words, the Empire controlled the central part of Falmart, but couldn't expand its territory any further with their rescources and current technology.

In midst of this strong and thriving nation laid the heart and birthplace of this so great nation with over 600 years history, Sadera. Home of thousands of people and residence of both the emperor and his senate as well as many nobles. Through the streets walked humans to their workplaces, their homes or one of the many places people could go to enjoy the luxury of the capital. There was enough water and food to substain the large population of the city. The city was heavily guarded with hundreds of soldiers and dragon riders flying over the the capital. Many merchants came here to sell their goods to the noblemen and common people as a lot of foreign wares arrived within these walls. It was quite impressing for the people of this world to stand within this mighty Fortress, that was also a place of culture, peace and order.

However, it was also the home of various kinds of demihuman races that lived in Akusho, the Red Light District of the capital outside its walls. There reigned only the right of the strongest. Criminal gangs and clans controlled the life of the People that were forced to spent their existence within this place. Demihumans were not allowed within Sadera as the Empire did encourage the population of the supremancy of the human race over all others and so racism was very common in this part of the empire. At the country side people had learned to live side by side with elves, orcs, imps and fairies, but here they were just lower class people. The infrastructure within the suburbs was nonexistent as the strong took what they wanted and the weak were left to die. Crime, hunger, slavery, prostitution and chaos at one hand. Order, wealth and structure on the other. It was always surprising how close these two opposites existed to one another. It was as if a transparent border existed between these two worlds as interaction with each other were quite rare. The capital didn't sent it's guards down there and the criminals didn't dare to go up into the city, where they would be little more than animals to be hunted down.

But one individual in the crowds didn't even looked slightly impressed at all these things that the Empire had built in the long time it has been standing. It was a young man with long black hair and red eyes who walked through the streets. The simple clothes made of leather had a dull brown color, making him look like an ordinary peasant and his feet were covered by ordinary sandals. The man frowned as he walked, but not because of his clothes, but the city around him. For him it was as if he was walking through a nest of vermin, no even lesser creatures than that. However, right now he had to grit his teeth and endure this as his mission was to gain more than just information.

Not long afterwards he arrived at his destination. He stood in front of one of the few palaces in this city. Even as the capital only few among the very rich nobles could afford such expensive houses. And right now he stood in front of the palace of a person that would grant him access to normally top secret data. As he walked closer to the entrance the pair of guards pointed their spears at the man.

"Halt! State your business here stranger or leave! Otherwise we will remove you by force!" One of the guards yelled. The Young man's hand flinched slightly as it curled up like a claw, before clenching and unclenching again. Calmly the young man pulled out a scroll from his robes.

"I've come here to speak with the owner of this mansion. I'd like to join her order of knights." The man said as he held the scroll out to the man. "This is the assignment for my meeting with her." The guard walked closer before taking the scroll and looking over it quickly. About 5 seconds later he returned the scroll to the man. However, before he could speak up a female voice rang from within the mansion.

"What is the cause of this ruckus?" Through the door walked a young woman of about 16 years of age. Her long red hair and red eyes gave her a quite appealing look as her figure was slender and delicately built. The look in those ruby eyes however was stern and cold as if she was an absolute ruler of the Empire. She was clad in a white uniform with several bronze plates as light armor on her body. A white cape was connected to it on her back.

"Princess Pina, it appears this man has come to join the Knight order of the Rose." One guard said as both lowered their heads in respect. The young man however only bowed slightly as the woman directed her eyes at him. This whole situation was almost too much for him to take as he was about to rip this woman's head from her shoulders in the literal way. He needed access and this woman better provided it, because other wise she was of no use for him.

"Your highness he even had a message from Lord Tulius." The other guard said. Now the princess looked directly at the young man. Tulius had been a great general back in the days before Pina's birth and his word meant much more than hers when it came to recommending someone for a position in the military. Pina walked over to the black haired man and held out her hand. The man of course knew what she wanted and handed the scroll over to her as she opened it. Her eyes flew over the letters like an old writing machine, analysing each and every word and their meaning to put the picture together.

"Everything seems to be right." Pinas muttered to herself. She then looked up to the man as her face steeled itself. "Very well. However, only because you have Tulius' recommendation doesn't mean I'll accept you in my knight's order. In two hours from now we will meet at the training grounds where I'll judge your strength. That should be enough time for you to prepare. Now go." She said as she handed the scroll back and with no other word turned around to disappear in her mansion.

The black haired man left the mansion after that. To express his mood right now in verbal form would be quite a pain for anyone, who would listen, and perhaps be a crime categorized as insult of the royal family. The cocky and self-confident attitude of the princess really enraged him. When she had spoken to him her arrogance was clearly showing as she was looking down on him the whole time as if he was nothing but some kind of lesser creature. He would have killed that woman on the spot and be done with it, however his creator's order was absolute.

' _Disgusting wench! Even fleas have more respect to the stronger than this brat! How dare she, a mere human to talk like that to a creation of the supreme being and behave like she is actually a more powerful being. Why must I infiltrate this Empire through the order of knights below this spoiled brat? Erebos-sama, give me the strength to pull through this._ ' He thought as he made his way into the city to find the training grounds of the knights in Sadera. His opinion did matter little as his master's plan was already put into motion. And for it's success he, Hades would do anything that his master ordered him to do.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in Vanguard's Loss_

The large dragon player sat on his throne as he had heard the reports of the generals already regarding the strength of the guild. Tartarus was not lacking in manpower. In fact they had a lot of advantages should it come to a war with the saderan empire right now. From the first to the last floor of the dungeon Erebos had control over more than 2000 units of mercenary NPCs. When counting the spawn mobs as well it were more than 50000 given the size of each floor and amount of gold he had invested into this place. While these numbers of course were obviously smaller than those of the imperial army, it were still more than enough to burn this entire nation to the ground within weeks, months depending on how well refugees can survive in the wilderness without any kind of infrastructure.

The spawn NPCs were only from level 1 to 30, however with their superior numbers, were the main force of the dragon player. Also they were spawned automatically by the dungeon itself, meaning that replacing them was immediately after they were destroyed without any drawbacks or costs. The average level of a soldier in their army, or what was left of it, was not above 25, meaning that the Saderan Empire was truly only a big and fat pig that he only needed to be slaughtered, if he just wanted the rescources of them. The Mercenary NPCs were above level 30 and were with that the more capable fighters. If it would be a fight between one of them in the 50s and a legion of the humans, Erebos would place his bet on the one NPC. The monsters in his dungeon variied as lot and therefore had different weaknesses. Surely most of them were dragons like himself, but he had also made other creatures in the dungeon like the lizardmen marauders and succubus valkyries. With such a variety of subordinates Erebos was having the manpower necesarry to demolish this country in a matter of hours and that was without the custom NPCs.

He rose from his throne and teleported to the 2nd floor which was under Aeolus command. The vast desert was hot and arid. On the sandy ground stood a group of 5 men clad in the armor of the imperial army. All of them looked terryfied around themselves as the grip on their spears and swords must have been painful. Then a creature rose from the sands with a loud hissing sound. It looked like a snake covered in beige and orange scales, blending in well with it's current environment. Large horns sat on it's head and a cobra's hood was located at the neck. Small horns ran over the back, while the rest of the creature remained submerged. The snake was about 4 times the size of the soldiers.

The soldiers probably have just soiled themselves at the appearance of the Monster as one could spot darker spots on the sand in their shadowsbeneath their crotches. Frozen in fear they could only stare at the monster leaned towards them. Then it reared it's head back and spat out a gallon of a thick, green fluid. A soldier was hit as the others instinctly took a step away from their wounded comerade. A reaction that was only enhanced by the pain-filled cries of the man as the venom of the serpent dissolved the flesh off the bones. Erebos watched with a neutral expression as the cries died down and the soldier stopped trashing around as he fell limp to the ground.

The other men looked in shock at the remains of their comerade as they were tempted to just throw their weapons away and run for it. Too late, however, came their decision as the snake had moved so fast that it had become a blur. It had clamped it's razor sharp teeth into a man and now dug down in the ground where he had been standing. While digging into the ground one could see relatively small bat like wings along the serpent's body. The soldiers then spread out, however didn't ran when the snake was gone from sight. They looked uneasy at one another, too terrified to even talk to each other.

Then a sudden outcry and a large fountain of sand shattered the silence as another soldier was gone. The last two men now stood about 5 metres away from one another. Uneasily they looked around, moved in circles to check their vision for any sights of the monster to return. Their sandals dug slightly into the sand as they sweated bullets.

Then the monster's spiked tongue shot out the sand and impaled one of the soldiers through the chest, making blood spill out the wound and through the man's mouth. It reared it's head out the sand and swallowed the man last man standing dropped his gladius as he fell on his knees. The snake was gazing down at him almost with a bored expression as it licked the fresh blood from it's mouth. The man let out an insame laugh as he cried. The Serpent opened it's mouth widely and swallowed the man as well, before digging into the sandy ground.

"Another disappointment I see." Erebos said sighing. ' _I begin to question why we don't just get it over with. This is almost embarrassing to watch._ ' He thought, but he also knew why he wasn't just overrunning the Empire. He lacked some very important things. First off, he lacked support by the local people. Of course he couldn't get any as his existence remained secret, but the fact that he was a dragon made things even harder as dragons in this world seemed to have quite a bad reputation as overgrown winged reptiles that consume all other lifeforms including their own kind within their active phases. Large fire dragons from this world for example only went out of their hibernation to breed and to restock their energy they ate anyone that crossed their ways, making them to infamous symbols of calamity, while sea dragons were infamous for sinking entire fleets of ships. Both kinds were also seen as impossible to kill due their natural defenses and weapons.

So winning the hearts of local people over was one thing that Erebos had to do. As someone who grew up in truly poor conditions he knew that alone no one survived very long. You simply couldn't and if you did others might band togehter to bring you down. Another thing he didn't have was a good map of the continent. He ordered Hades to bring one from Sadera should he find one, but given the advancement of the Empire he doubted that there was any really accurate maps of the continent. Erebos still sent out it's scouts to explore the area, but only a small part of the east in which they were in and the route to Sadera were really explored. To travel everything and find what might be hidden by others could take even longer.

And finally Erebos lacked any kind of organisation of larger groups. He might have led gangsters and criminals before, but that is not even close to the scale of a city, even less an entire country. Such organisations are very complex and needed numerous systems to work. Even when Erebos didn't knew all of them or how they exactly worked he was pretty sure that he would Need a lot more than just an iron grip on his people to ensure their loyalty and keep the country as a whole intact. For that reasons he hadn't slept for a couple of days as he had sat in his room and thought of several kinds of things. Economy, laws and food distribution were just a few of the things he had to think about. And then came the annoying fact that he couldn't read the language of those monkeys yet.

"I apologize if it wasn't to your liking, Erebos-sama." Aeolus said as he landed not far from Erebos. "Perhaps if we sent these monkeys against a weaker opponent the battle might be more interesting." The green serpentine dragon said.

"Perhaps. But we are not watching this for entertainment, but to see how strong These men are in a fight. The entertainment factor is simply a bonus. How many kinds of monsters have we tested on the soldiers already?" Erebos asked.

"Around 30% of those within the dungeon Erebos-sama. However, since we are cut short on test subjects and their primitive weapons, we need to find more of them to be tested." Aeolus said. It was true that ever since Erebos had started kidnapping bandits, soldiers and town guards after his attack on the towns in the east a couple of weeks ago, he had been running tests in this desert like once in that giant colluseum in Italy. As he could tell all of the tests had been negative for the humans. Beating a spawn NPC wasn't really difficult, however even for those the men had needed to be in groups to coordinate their actions. While they all were trained soldiers and knew how to swing a sword they were only displaying quite simple and humble efficiency against the monsters from YGGDRASIL.

"Umu. In that case I'll assemble a hunting party to get more of them. Aeolus, come with me to the throne room. I wish to discuss something." Erebos said.

"As you wish Erebos-sama." The dragon said as he turned to a group of dragonkin, Level 55 monsters in YGGDRASIL that resemble upright standing wingless dragons. Erebos didn't pay more attention to them as he left for the throne room. ' _I wonder how Hades is doing right now._ ' He thought to himself. ' _Hopefully he doesn't kill someone important, otherwise it might get difficult to get into that princess' group of toy soldiers._ '

* * *

 _Meanwhile in Sadera_

To say that Hades was disappointed with what he saw was an understatement. When he had arrived on the training grounds he had been instructed by some old Knight Sir Grey or something like that who showed him around. The veteran knight was polite at least for a human that didn't knew that he was talking to a dragonoid, something that princess definitely lacked. The training ground was covered with sand and was mainly occupied by a square area that was used as an arena. The buildings around the training area were of course to make sure that not everyone would watch them Train, while there were also some seats probably for royalty to observe the progress of their soldiers.

Hades had been brought to a room to get simple leather armor for minimized protection against the practice weapons. Speaking of which, Hades saw people mostly fight with short swords, but also with spears and arrow and bow, however weapons like battleaxes, maces or longswords seemed to be nonexistent as well as crossbows. The dragonoid wanted to shake his head at the poor display of the armory. He was sure even lesser players as Erebos called the people from YGGDRASIL, that were not created by another being like himself, could have floored this empire on their own by just killing everything. He didn't question his master though. He probably had just a great master plan in his mind to destroy that emperor.

Speaking of royalty, Princess Pina had arrived with a group of women and one man. All were either around her age, which made them all fairly young. The dragonoid immediately could tell that they were all inexperienced. They had no battle hardened gaze like that of the old knight nor did they bore scars of previous battles. No these people had never fought in a real fight before or hadn't the pleasure of ever having a fight before that was actually threatening their lives yet.

All of them wore similiar light metal armor with white capes attached to their shoulder pads. Their metalic boots clicked with every step as they walked. Princess Pina wore a tiara with a blue gem at her forehead, heavy shoulder guards, a light armor chestplate made of a bronze looking metal while wearing a red shirt that exposed her cleavage beneath it. Hades wasn't staring at them. His eyes were focused on the ridicoulus set of armor the princess wore. Her entire body was wide open for attacks. Surely Hades knew how light armor looked like, but this wasn't armor. This was a damn cosplay outfit!

 **(AN: Am I the only one who thought that when seeing Pina's combat attire for the first time and then comparing it with that of her other knights?)**

' _This is a joke. A really bad joke. If that is the elite of this empire I don't even want to face the real army out of pity._ ' Hades thought sweatdropping as Pina finally stopped and her order of knights right behind her.

"I see you already have gotten armor and a practice sword. I shall now explain why you are here. While Lord Tulius did recommend you for this Position, I shall see for myself how you fair in battle. We are a proud order of knights. All of us are children of noble houses, but that alone doesn't qualify us for such a position within our great empire's ranks. I shall let you fight against the strongest of my order to determine, if you truly belong among us or not." Pina said like some dramatic opera speaker. Hades had to resist to fall asleep at her little speech.

' _I don't belong among insects like you for you wouldn't even understand greatness if you were looking right at it. Insolent children! Their arrogance needs to be punished._ ' Hades thought. "I see. Do you intent to fight as well your majesty?" He asked. Pina looked rather confused for a long moment, before her face turned stoic again.

"I'll see how you'll fight. Perhaps if you manage to stand after this I'll consider dueling you myself. Panache will be your first opponent" She said. A small murmur went through the ranks of her knight order's members rather unsure if it was okay for a princess of the Empire to take part in a sparing match even, if it was against a candidate or a member of their own order. The dragonoid was unimpressed at this. No, he actually doubted that this order of knights as they called themselves was even capable of defeating a horde of goblins on their own. The more irritated he became at Pina's attitude. She carried herself with an aura of self-confidence and arrogance. It sickened the dragon in human skin even more than before. Still safe for clenching his hand so hard that the metal the gauntlets were made off started bending he did no thing that could endanger the plan.

"I'll look forward to it your majesty." He said swallowing his pride and bowing to her. In his mind he was already eating his own tail for that gesture of showing respect and submission. Him, Hades, a creation of Erebos, the sole Supreme Being of Tartarus, **BOWING** even when it was only pretending for a while to a lowly lifeform, whose arrogance apparantly knew no bounds was unforgivable. If his brothers and sisters back home would knew about that they'd never live this one down. meanwhile Pina only turned around and gave Grey a short nod.

"Prepare the arena!" He shouted at a few workers that were present, who quickly scurried like rats over to the open field to clean it from sand grains that had been blown over there by the wind. Within 10 minutes the arena looked acceptable for a small sparing match. Hades walked over to it with a stoic face while the knight's order was mostly assembled next to it. Two of the princess' knights, both women as one had short brunette hair and one long blonde hair in a drill shaped style, had accompanied the princess to the seats for visitors.

' _Tch! Why am I not surprised?_ ' Hades thought spiteful as he only shot the women at the tribune a short glance, but spiced with enough killing intent to make an elephant run back to it's mother. The three women shuddered under the short eye contact, but discarded the thought as a fresh breeze. In that time Hades observed his opponent. It was a young woman about the same age as the princess with short platinum blonde hair. Her eyes held a steel hard gaze in them and her entire body language was telling Hades that she was not going to go easy on him. Or at least she wouldn't hold back.

Hades saw at least that she was one serious fighter unlike the other people he saw so far here. He wasn't worried the slightest, His power eclipüsed that of these 'knights' as they dared to call themselves by far. Pina then stretched her arm out in a pose that tried to be imposing. "Let the match begin!"

The platinum blonde woman dashed at Hades without a second thought as she drew her sword and aimed for Hades shoulder. It was obvious that she would try to hit something not vital, but with enough force to make him unable to fight. Hades, however, simply moved out the way with one step to the sides, making the slash hit only air. Panache realized this and slashed at Hades agan. Again the dragonoid simply dodged by leaning out of the way.

What appeared for the knights of the rose order and the more experienced soldiers as a display of skill and talent was actually held back power to the point where an adult would simply **POKE** an infant to make it fall on it's rear, yet so softly to prevent it to get actually hurt. Hades was a level 90 dragonoid and with it stood just below the generals and the advisors in the hierachy in Tartarus as the leader of what could be called the black ops. Of course such things like a hierachy among NPCs didn't really exist in YGGDRASIL. Erebos had added them in every NPCs programming from his own experiences as he designed Vanguard's Loss.

The match between Hades and Panache continued like before for a few minutes, while Hades was bearing a stoic almost bored expression as he dodged or sometimes parried every blow thrown at him and Panache became slightly exhausted over time. While the woman had indeed some spine and pride inher mind her attacks werewild and easily forseen by the dragon's sharp senses. She put more energy into the attacks force, speed and accuracy, yet she couldn't hit Hades a single time. Eventually the strain on her muscles was taking it's toll as her movements became slower and more desperate. As she tried to stab him once more he parried her attack and hit the sword with so much force that it was thrown out of the woman's grasp. Hades held up the tip of the sword now to her throat. Panache gritted her teeth as her pride was obviously hurt and the audience looked in awe at the result.

"The match is over. Winner is Sir Hades." Grey announced. The knights order was speechless at this, Until now they had thought of themselves as trained soldiers that were unbeatable, but now some noble's son simply wiped the floor with one of their most talented members.

"Very good Sir Hades. But the test has just begone." Pina said as Panache left the arena, shooting the dragonoid an hateful glare. Hades payed neither of them any attention as he simply went to the edge of the arena and waited for the next opponent to be called forth. It would at least amuse him a little as long as he would be staying in this Empire.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, Vanguard's Loss, Throne Room_

After the demonstration, which was more like a feeding of predators with living creatures to get them a bit more entertainment instead of throwing a dead piece of meat at them, Erebos and Aeolus returned to the thorne room of the dungeon. Erebos had felt nothing during these matches as he felt no empathy for the men that were fed to the monsters. It was to him like watching a fly being trapped in a spiders nest and watching said arachnid to move in for the kill. There was some minor in that as Erebos may knew how some monsters did fight, but that also could have changed with the fact that everything was real now. They had still the same abilities and attacked with similiar patterns, but behaved more lively and were not quite like they used to be.

In YGGDRASIL monsters attacked the players and NPCs as they were programmed to do so. Now however when fighting some monsters showedd some kind of intelligence. A swarm of bird monsters for ecxample had been sitting there for a couple of seconds observing the soldiers before attacking and then observing again. The same was with some other predatory monsters. Monsters like a treant however proofed to be less clever as they simply pummeled the human soldiers into bloody paste with their arm like branches or tore them apart like dolls made of straw.

Erebos had a lot to think because of that. Were the monsters even a good replacement for actually born creatures in a war? The answer was yes, since they dstill followed orders no matter how cruel or moraly wrong they were. However he now had to figure out how to organise them. As the monsters mostly had no intelligence on their own they'd need a lieutenant to guide them. Brute strength alone wasn't going to win a war. He knew that well otherwise he might as well be dead now like so many of the people he had fought with and against. Erebos knew that the lizardmen marauders he had deployed during his first wave of attacks were sentient. However as demihumans they were weaker than dragons. He could use dragoons as an alternative, but first he'd have to see what they could provide in battle in this world. He had a lot to think about indeed.

"As you have seen Erebos-sama, these imperial warriors are no match even against the strength of our weakest trained forces. Their estimated levels range from 4 to 15, but that are only the human soldiers. The demi-human mercenaries that the Empire had hired put up more of a fight, but ultimately were killed just like the human soldiers, making their levels still beneath 20." Aeolus said as he looked at the giant black dragon that sat on his throne.

"I see. Thank you Aeolus." Erebos stated as he was about to turn his head to Edo, when Aeolus spoke up.

"Erebos-sama? If I may ask a question?" The large serpentine dragon stated. Erebos looked at his creation, before nodding in approval.

"Very well. Ask what you must Aeolus." Erebos said calmly.

"Yes Erebos-sama. I wished to know why you gave Hades such a task when there are other beings of Tartarus capable of gathering information and infiltrating these pityful humans." He said.

"Ho? Others you say?" Erebos said as he stood up from his throne. "Tell me Aeolus, since I've given all generals enough knowledge to lead our forces to be worthy of their rank, who would you have tasked with such an important mission? Surely you must have thought about such an individual before you questioned Hades' placement in this plan."

"Y-yes Erebos-sama. I have thought that there are other human looking beings in Tartarus who may would be good for this task. Only if I'm allowed to say so that is of course." Aeolus said growing more nervous by the passing seconds he spoke with Erebos. "For example there is a certain individual that would have enough power to-" Aeolus stopped as Erebos rose his hand, signalling Aeolus to stop.

"So you would have suggested 'her' for that mission? Do I see that right?" He asked with a slightly intimidating aura around him.

"Y-Yes my creator." Aeolus said quitely.

"Aeolus, I think you need to learn a few things about infiltration. The best way to infiltrate someone is to have no infiltrator." Erebos said, earning a confused look by Aeolus. "From the perspective of the spied ones of course. Without any evidence that there is a mole in their ranks, they won't grow suspicious about the actual spy. Instead they would fall into a state of distrust and accuse each other to be the spy. Eventually the spy might be found out, but the chance is higher that it is in that moment already too late for the infiltrated. Now I'll explain to you why I didn't send 'her' of all people to do this job.

' _Ugh how do I do that?_ ' He mentally groaned. There were only few places in Vanguard's Loss Erebos didn't wish the generals or any living being to go. He didn't even wanted them to know about it and yet they did. Probably they knew all of his creations already by the name, but hadn't met them yet. Spectra for example was a person he didn't like to have around, but she was even worse. He may have only created them to make the people who did take the wrong turn to his throne room fall into deadly traps, however he also had made their backstories meaning he shaped their psyhe and their behaviour as if they were real living beings. "While she is indeed capable of becoming a human in body, her nature and personality wouldn't allow such a thing. Most likely she would burn the capital of the Empire to the ground before we would even have a chance to collect information"

"Also the role of the women in this society is very surpressed. It is a miracle that I haven't seen rape or children prostitution here yet." Erebos said. Of course he was aware of the low technological advancement of the Empire and the nations around it. Even a blind person could tell that these people lived in a for people from Earth ancient system. Not that Erebos knew the exact date since had absolutely no idea about such things like human history. All he cared for was to remain in power and protect what he didn't want to lose. "The biggest issue by sending her is probably her will to destroy other living beings. She's supposed to be an emergency meassure should anyone make it past you and the other generals."

"That will never happen! I'll lay down my life and endure the greatest pain for you Erebos-sama!" Aeolus bowed his head in submission as he declared once more his devotion to Erebos as his creator and god. Erebos smiled on the inside at this.

"In that case I'll trust your word. However don't think that I'll take it lightly should you fail." Erebos warned. Aeolus shuddered a little under his creator's gaze at this.

"Of course Erebos-sama."

"Very good. Now let's move on to the next topic. Since the Gate has been attacked and defended from the other side, we managed to track some of the slaves that had been brought to this side as well as securing in a temporary hideout to observe the Gate. The empire's forces have been waiting ever since for an attack from the other side. Their troops are ready and supplies arrive with wagons every week apparantly. The Gate is so far none of our problem." Erebos said. "What is however troublesome is the fact that we lack intel. Even after killing those nobles and squezzing out every ounce of information from them we still have only limited access to essential knowledge. While Hades will cover that up in the capital, Charon is going from town to town and asking for more information. Not to mention Spectra's skills in...'convincing people'. All together we should have enough information within the next month or two to actually attack the Empire without destroying everything. The Gate is so far a minor factor that still needs our attention as well. Whatever was on the other side managed to fend off a large army of scavangers." Erebos said. ' _Knowing their holier-than-thou attitude, they probably see themselves as the rightous ones and everyone else as barbarians. Pathetic. Hilarious even. It will make it even better to pull them off their high horse into a swamp of despair. I always enjoyed telling people who thought of themselves as superior 'no', but this time it's an entire society. Oh ho I feel already a bit excited about seeing this spectacle._ ' He thought, making plans in his head as he looked at Aeolus.

"Your task will be to keep your troops training so they stay in shape for the case of an attack. Until then we are still looking for new scources of information." Erebos said. Aeolus bowed and gave a "Of course." before he left the throne room. Now alone in the room Erebos sat on his throne as he smirked at the dark thoughts that made up his mind. Even cats had sadistic tendencies when playing with their prey before killing it. But comparing what he had in store for these people with what a kitten would do to a ball of yarn would be a bit insulting.

* * *

 _Back in Sadera_

"Uargh!" With an outcry of pain the sole male member of the rose knights order Norma fell on his back as his sword was now embedded into the sandy ground below a few meters away from his fallen form. It had been sometime since the test had begun and Hades had beaten every single knight Pina had thrown at him. Even the most skillful among the nobles' children had failed to land even one hit on him. While the dragon was completely unharmed and still bore an unimpressed and somewhat bored expression on his face, the members of the knight had bruises and cuts as they sat on benches next to the arena.

Some said that Hades had cheated, but what was there to cheat in a duel that was fought with the equipment every soldier of the empire had at the beginning as a recruit? It was simply the difference in skill that made the rose knights order look like a bunch of pushovers that they actually were. Grey once more announced Hades to the victor, but the dragonoid wasn't really listening as Norma was helped by two of his companions to walk off the arena.

Instead his attention was focused on a certain redhead that now stood at the edge of the arena. Her hands were shaking as were her eyes. Cold sweat was running down her fair skin as she looked at Hades. Her jaws had clenched together a bit, showing her nervousness even more. Then she swallowed and steppedinside the arena herself. Her self confidence however only lasted for the first two steps as her body was a little bit shaking in fear. It was as if she had entered the cage of a vicious predator that might as well devour her once she'd give it the chance. Actually Hades thought about it, but showing his true form would only make trouble for his father Erebos.

"You have done very well Sir Hades. Now however I, the imperial princess Pina Co Lada, shall determine if you are strong enough to enter this order of knights." She said with some self-confidence that dispersed the moment the words had left her mouth. She was obviously afraid and to start a fight like that was never a good plan. Panicking on the battlefield was mostly a mortal error. In panic people did irrational things like attacking without a plan or accidentally hitting their own allies.

Hades only resumed his place at the opposite end of the arena and held up his sword. "Very well then. Show me what you are made of." He said. A look of rage flashed over the face of the princess and her knights, but the latter stopped right there as the tension on the muscles that was amplied when narrowing their eyes at the dragonoid's disrespectful words to the princess was causing some of them pain. It was also part of Hades plan to break the princess. He could tell that she was a very prideful person, but she lacked strength and yet believed that she had it. Someone really needed to show that brat that they were as far from the power they thought they held as a serpent was from the clouds it might sought to roam. Pina's pride has already been damaged to a very critical point as her order of knights was beaten one after another. Now however Hades was mocking her directly and there wasn't a single thing she could have done about it unless she would manage to at least hit him once and draw blood.

Grey looked a bit concerned at the princess as she gave him a reassuring nod like saying "It will be fine." or "Just watch." it was almost funny to see such a weak person trying to assure a battle hardened veteran that she would win against a person that singlehandely had wiped the floor with her entire order of knights. The older knight had trained Pina since the day she had made the game of the rose knights order. Back then it had only been a make believe game that she had played with her friends that were all children of high ranked nobles. On her wish to her father the Emperor had actually granted them the official title of a knights order, but only let them be the honor guard for parades and other events. Until now they lacked real fighting experience, but Hades had changed that.

And now he was going to show that princess what the feeling of truly being powerless meant.

"May the match begin." Grey said. None of the duelists moved at first. Pina had of course studied Hades' movements the whole time. When a knight had rushed in without a plan they had been defeated faster than she could have thought to be possible. When they waited to long with planning, Hades had taken them by surprise and swiftly beat them. Pina was working on her strategy since the matches had begun. At first she had believed that Hades was like every foot soldier of the empire some man who could swing a sword in the horizontal and the vertical direction. But she was wrong. His movements were much faster and still accurate with a deadly precision. If this wasn't a spare match, her friends might as well would have been killed.

The two warriors still stood there as Hades made a step to the side. Pina mirrored the movement as she did her best to keep distance to Hades. Like two predators they circled around each other, however while Pina was focused on her enemy Hades was simply enjoying the feeling of dread that Pina reeked of. he didn't need a plan to beat her. She was weak yet to make sure he'd not let her make any plans that would fail in spectacular manner.

Pina then rushed at Hades while simply stood there awaiting her attack. Swinging her sword at the dragonoid's legs was a cheap trick as most people instinctly would try to shield their torso and head, but a simple change on the grasp on the sword's handle lowered it to the same height as Pina's sword. The two weapons met with a loud CLANG as the kinetic energy of her attack backfired and made her take a step backwards.

Time seemed to slow down as Hades trusted his sword at Pina right after blocking. He could easily kill her right now. Stabbing with enough force would make the sword even though it was blunt, smash through her light armor and pierce her chest or he could simply slit her neck which was completely exposed. But that would go against Erebos orders. So instead he would go even a notch higher than that.

Instead of killing her, he'd harm her pride like that of all the other knights' he had fought until now. Instead of stabbing Pina right in the eye or the throat or the heart or wherever else a mortal injury could occur, Hades only slashed at Pina's face so her cheek would be cut a little. It was a shallow cut and only it's length was the reason why it actually bled a bit much. Pina gave a pained yelp as she lost her balance due the stinging sensation of her flesh being cut and fell backwards on her side. The other knights of the order gave horrified sounds and looks of shock at this, while others looked at Hades with looks that could kill, which he didn't acknowledge.

Pina picked herself up right after falling down as she noticed the wet sensation on her cheek. She touched her cheek and winced a little at the burning that coursed through her body as her fingertips brushed against the cut skin. Looking at her fingers, her red eyes widened at the equally red liquid that coated her fingers, ran down them and dropped down in droplets into the sand.

"Princess Pina!" Grey said as he ran over to check on the red haired girl's condition. Looking with a trained eye at the injury he sighed in relief. Apparently he had panicked a little when he saw the blood. He stood up and helped Pina to stand. "Sir Hades is the winner." He said. The knights of the rose order looked bewildered at the older knight, but despite their pride being shattered like a window, they all knew that he was right. Hades, a complete newcomer, had brought so much skill with him that he defeated a group of nobles trained to fight from their childhood on with such ease, that it made them question if he was actually a human being.

Oh if they knew.

Pina still was caught up in her shock as she barely registered what happened around her. It was as if she was submerged in water. All the sounds rang only dimmed to her ears as she tried to get herself under control. Only the sound of Hades stepping towards her made her shake out her stupor. She shook like a leaf in the wind as Hades' presence loomed over her despite standing calmly in front of her.

"It was an interesting fight your majesty." Hades said bowing slightly to Pina much to his discomfort. ' _Interesting indeed. Now I know for sure, that you and the rest of you apes are not even remotely a threat to us._ ' He thought. "However, it seems that your swordplay could need some improvement."

"Uh-uh..." Pina tried to find the right words in her mind as she was currently unable to voice out her thoughts. She cleared her throat and pushed herself away from Grey to stand on her own. Right now she couldn't risk to show weakness in front of her order of knights. In situations like this a ruler had to turn the obvious loss into a victory at least in the eyes of it's peers.

"Sir Hades. You have proven yourself as worthy to be part of the Rose-Order of Knights. Do you accept this offer to serve the Empire and its ruler until death?" Pina said with a lot of pathos in her voice despite the fact that her cheek bunred everytime her mouth opened too much, however she couldn't whisper these words as it had to sound dramtically. Hades was inwardly rolling his eye at the stupidity of this girl. She thought that she had caught the fish that had bitten down the hook, but in reality it was going to drag her into the depths and devour her whole. To keep up his play he kneeled on one leg, while holding a hand over his heart.

"Your majesty, I cannot express my gratitude with any words. I accept." He said. Pina then got her knights together and left to get their injuries treated, while Hades had now one of the most difficult jobs to do while he was going to stay in Sadera. Finding a place to sleep. However his work in Sadera had just begun. Joining the Rose-Order of Knights was simply the first step to gather informations for Erebos from a trustworthy scource. Sadera was the home of thousands of people and informations from all around the Empire were concentrating here.

And full granaries with open doors were always inviting places for rats to sneak in.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, Mountain Range of Ice and Snow_

The dungeon was encompassed by a thick forest to the west and south and a mountain range in the North and east. The highest one in the North was the mountain range of ice and snow. Quite a bad choice for a name given that a lot of mountains can have glaciers when the climatic conditions are right, but then again the civilizations of this continent were primitive and lived in mediterrean lands. For them to see snow was probably the very exception of the norm.

The snow was deep, hindering most creatures to advance forward over the peaks of the mountains. But not a servant of the great Erebos known as Kympholeia. The ice dragon lived on the icy floor of the dungeon in a large tundra with a few patches of vegetation. She enjoyed her stay in the dungeon, her home, but even then she wanted to be of use for her master. So she had decided to head north for the scouting of the local Areas. The snow and ice made no difference for her. She easily soared across the sky even if a blizzard would hit her.

However, the same couldn't be said about her sister Gaia. The earth dragon that accompanied her only got slowly forward in the deep snow with her crocodile like body.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you sister?" Kympholeia asked as she hovered lower over the ground as Gaia peeked out the snow.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. See?" Gaia accelerated her pace a little only to slip a few meters further ahead and sliding down a little on the not very steep ground. It was like watching a pinguin sliding down a small slope on its belly. Only that it wasn't a pinguin, but a massive lizard like dragon with the appearance of boulder like armor and that a pinguin would not be submerged in snow until only the tail and hindlegs would be visible.

"I can see that very good." Kympholeia said as she landed near her sister, who could be heard groaning in annoyance beneath the snow as her tail flicked the ground a little. The ice dragon made the snow and ice move away from her sister as her blue eyes looked into Gaia's green ones for a moment. Sighing Kympholeia grabbed her sister and took flight. Her thin arms couldn't hold her sister for Long and the weight of the earth dragon slowed her down, but she at least decided to take her as far as she could.

"You better not tell Erebos-sama about this Kympholeia?" The earth dragoness said.

"Of course not onee-chan." Kympholeia replied to the slightly peeved dragon.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in Vanguard's Loss, Erebos' room_

Erebos was taking a nap as he heard the knocking of a servant at the door. Recently the dragon player had discovered a few changes on his habits when he became a dragon. One thing was that he really like noble metals now. Not to the point where he would start fantasizing about him layin on a pile of treasures and roll around like a dog or anything kinky, but he had a desire in the back of his head to get more treasures than he already had now. At one hand it was understandable. A lot of money had been invested into the dungeon and the NPCs creation. On the other hand, however, it was completely different to what he used to be on Earth.

Sure he had been a criminal and a thief, but he never had an obsession for money and riches. The main reason why he had done what he did was that it had been necessary in order to survive.

He sat up as he almost wanted to put on something like a morning mantle, but then remembered that he didn't have any. So far he has been running around naked all the time as it simply felt more natural this way. Looking down his black scaled body he ran his claws over the scales on his belly. He simply felt the pressure the fingers applied on the skin, but he didn't felt the scratching at all.

' _Guess that's the prize for having a hard shell for skin._ ' He thought as he sat up and went over to his desk. "Come in." He said while sitting down. The door opened and a person entered the room, which made Erebos remember that he was going to have to talk with this person anyway.

To describe the creature it looked like the unholy fusion of a dragon and a spider. Of course it was a dragon and the spider features were mostly part of the equipment's decorative ornaments, however it looked like the creature truly sprouted from it's back eight large spider legs, that twitched around and moved like snakes. The tail was long and like a whip and at the tip sat something like a second pair of jaws. The head on the short neck was covered with a black mask that seemed to have a dozen eyes. The inhumane long arms ended in large hands with long fingers with long claws, each sharp like a scalpel and shaped like a sewing needle. It walked on two normal legs with shorter claws, however the entire body was covered with sharp edges like the carapace of an insect.

The head interrogator of Tartarus, the poisonous dragon Spectra.

( **AN: Spectra's original design was based on Razenoid of Bakugan, however I figured that making him into such a creature with the upper body of a dragon and the lower one of a spider would be more something for another story in the future, I changed it to a normal dragon with spider themed equipment.)**

With steady steps the upright standing dragon walking over to the edge of Erebos' bed where he lowered himself down on his knees and bowed.

"My creator I have returned for the report you have requested." Spectra said. Erebos nodded.

"Very well. What have you managed to get out from the last prisoners?" The player asked.

"A lot my master. I've managed to remove most not vital organs from them before moving the more important ones." Spectra said with delight in his voice. Erebos would have sweatdropped if he would be suprised. But as the creator of the NPCs in this one man guild he was aware of Spectra's role in the dungeon. Erebos had poured in all his sadistic tendencies and ruthlessness into this NPC. While not being a general, the function as a mad scientist and a masterful surgeon were something Erebos appreciated. It fit very well into his fortress of solitude.

Also Spectra fulfilled a very important role in his plan. While his forces would drag sentient beings into this plac, Spectra would analyze the information and convert it into useful data. It was also Spectra who held the most knowledge about this world as he heard it first hand from his prisoners while skinning them alive, dissecting their bodies and tormenting their souls. Yes, the torture of the poisonous dragon wasn't ending with one's death, but with one's soul being destroyed. Spectra was also a highly toxic being, producing poisonous both fluids and gases, that he could test on local lifeforms. However, so far a drop of his poison was apparently enough to make flesh and bone corrode, nerves set ablaze with pain and minds of humans go crazy over the pain. Even metal simply got eaten away by the acidic poisons of the dragon. For some reason, Erebos actually pitied the unfortunate souls, that Spectra had and will get between his fingers.

"I meant what kind of information you were able to extract Spectra." Erebos said.

"Of course my creator. Please forgive my foolishness." Spectra said bowing down lower.

"Go on then. We do not have all day." The player said.

"Yes! While most of the knowledge was already confirmed by interrogating the other soldiers, only few more useful pieces come with the last prisoners. Most of them have only a moderate rate of knowledge as most of them were recruited over all places of the Saderan Empire as the sons of farmers. Fewer of them actually hail from noble families and had some knowledge in maths and gambling, but all of them had only standard knowledge like how to set up a camp or how to move in their legion. Their system of armies is actually very strict, but it seems that their loyalty to their emperor is rather easily broken." Spectra chuckled at this. Erebos couldn't hide his own as he thought about the poor fools being jelly in Spectra's claws. He could only imagine how foolish these men must have felt as they watched their comerades being cut upen by this monstrous being who is not even the strongest in the dungeon.

"Next is the important things. We have pinpointed the location of several places that might be of interest for us such as the city of Rondel, which seems to be a place where a magic academy is located and lots of knowledge converges in one place, Bellnahgo, apparently a place where the temple of a goddess is located, and Italica, a merchant city that produces a lot of agricultural products of the Empire." Spectra said pointing out the locations on a map made by Deliah based on the data she had gotten from Charon and the other people that had gone scouting, while she worked without a break day and night.

Erebos had to confess those were indeed very interesting positions within the Saderan Empire. The least one Erebos would want to engage right now was this city called Bellnahgo. If it only was the temple of one of the many gods that he had heard and read about from the guardians' reports, he was not going to waste his time with that place yet. Though he had to confess that he was curious how strong a real god was in this world. Pushing the thought into the back of his head for another time, Erebos focused on the other two places.

Rondel was without doubt a place where information could be gathered rather easily. So far nothing had presented itself to be a challenge for him or the NPCs he had created in the past. For now he only gathered information about the world and the Empire, but everything that his scouts encountered and attacked them was either effortlessly killed or effortlessly brought back to the dungeon to gather more information. The humans in this world were weak and so were most other races so far. Perhaps Erebos should have expected that much since his avatar and his NPCs had been part of a game. If nature would have made a race as powerful as they were right now on Earth, those probably would have been the dominate race on the planet and not the humans.

Italica on the other hand would be more efficient for the war. When destroying whatever the Empire would grow on those fields, hunger and suffering would foster discontent within the population. That would create revolts and confusion in the Empire. Erebos could already picture how hungry people would try to get soemthing to eat only to be killed by royal guardsmen. It was funny for Erebos to picture that.

Another approach would be to simply occupy the city and block the goods to leave the city, thus luring in the Empire in close combat range. Given the fact that their weapons made of iron and steel could do as much as scratching the dirt of most dragon's scales and their armor was like paper in front of a buzzsaw compared to the dragons' talons it would be even easier than just kidnapping people without anyone noticing in the middle of the night.

"You've done well Spectra. Anything else?" Erebos asked.

"My lord, I'd like to make a request if I may allow myself to dare such a thing from you." Spectra asked.

"Tell me and I'll consider it." The dragon player answered immediately. ' _Stop beating around the bush and get to the topic already. It's not like I have all time in the world. Wait. Given that I'm semi-immortal now as a heteromorph and no force so far could pose a threat safe from those demigods who I have yet to see in action I actually do have a lot of time._ ' Erebos thought.

"My lord, if we manage to find a spellcaster of these primitive apes or any other races from this filthy country, please allow me to run a few experiments on them." Spectra asked as politely as he could, however the impression of actually being trustworthy was something Spectra did not emit with his outer appearance. If someone had to decide to trust rather him or some guy in a Jason costume and having blood splashed all over them, people might as well trust the serial killer lookalike.

' _Ah that._ ' Erebos thought in realization what Spectra meant. One thing Erebos had yet to lay his fingers on was the magic of this world. Upon arriving in this new world and actually learning about the many rather trivial things Erebos had half expected that magic would have been more like common knowldge to people and being more utilized by the people, however that was a false assumption. Magic casters were not even close as wide spread as in YGGDRASIL, where every player could at least cast [Message] to communicate with other players over long distances.

The people of the Saderan Empire however had almost no magic capabilities at all. Those that did lived mostly far away from normal people and Rondel was only an exception because the city was apparantly blessed by the twin gods of science and magic. What Erebos was even more surprised to see was that no magic soldiers had been encountered during the battle at the Gate and the Empire didn't really seemed to actually make magic something used in a more military way given their aggressive nature. It was strange that even with their high numbers and vast lands they did not have a greater power in such things.

' _Maybe they are hiding it and use it for special ops, who are not known to normal citizens and nobels. I'll have to wait for Hades to report how things look inside the capital at another point in time._ ' Erebos thought before looking at Spectra again as he had lowered his head in thought. "Very well. I was planning on running some tests on the strength and power of the locals magic. Should we be able to capture some of them I'll send them right to you Spectra." Erebos said. The toxic dragon bowed even deeper now as his eyes radiated an happiness like a child that got permission to eat ice cream for dessert.

"Thank you very much Erebos-sama. I'll not let you down." Spectra said.

"Umu. If that was everything you are given permission to leave." Erebos said. Spectra gave a short bow and stood up, before the player made the NPC halt in his tracks. "But know this Spectra." Erebos said as he shot the other dragon a look that meant trouble. "Magic casters in this world are rare. Finding them will not be easy and neither will it be to make them just disappear like some soldiers that went 'missing in action', so do not play too carelessly with them. Your last subjects had a rather short life." Erebos said. Spectra seemed to shake a little, before bowing.

"Of course Erebos-sama. Unlike these failures I'll take good care of these special guests." Erebos nodded at this, before Spectra took his leave. The failures as Spectra referred to them had been the last soldiers they were able to capture. Unlike the ones fighting at the Gate they had been simple city guards, that ventured a little too far from the protective walls when Tartarus' minions lured them over. Physically and mentally weaker than the seasoned warriors, they had found their end in painful and horrible ways such as going insane after being exposed to Spectra's poison, being forced to fight high level monsters or simply being tortured physically.

For Erebos it had made no difference how they met their end. What mattered was that Spectra had been too rough with them and killed them, before they could have provided any actually worthy results from the experiments. But one shouldn't cry after spilled milk and things like that happened. It was simply bound to. Instead he would turn his eyes on more important matters right now. Those were the report of Hades and his scouts at the Gate. The dragonoid had managed to infiltrate a unit of knights under the direct command of one of the emperor's children, which was mostly made up of the children of other nobles and, according to Hades at least, extremely weak.

What was almost as important as the strength of those 'fake knights' as Hades referred to them, was the fact that there was absolutely no Problem with entering the City. At first, the dragon lord had assumed that the capital of the empire at least had something like a magic barrier to prevent monsters from entering or a detection System or anything else that came only remotely close to that to ensure some kind of security. But once more his expectations were more than underwhelmed. It seemed that magic was truly far too limited on this world to think that it would be used on the most important settlement in the capital. It was almost laughable.

Other than that, he had sent Kympholeia and Gaia on a scouting mission to the north and northeast of the mountains to investigate those 'wild lands' as some of the imperials had called them. Apparently it had something to do with savage demihuman tribes living there, but first he would need to investigate this case himself.

More importantly than this was the gate however. During the entire time there was no movement at Alnus Hill and the gate just kept standing there like a silent guardian. The empire still had ist troops stationated there, waiting for the enemy to attack. Quite strange to refer to them as the enemy when it was the Empire who invaded them and not the other way around. There were even some conflicts between the human soldiers and the demihuman vasalls in the camps around the hill. 'Human supremacists...' Erebos thought at that shaking his head at the stupidity of this nation. The Gate however never left his mind for long. He had a Feeling, that whatever laid beyond, was not very pleased with what had happened last time when the Empire had tried to invade them and was just preparing for a counterattack. They would do good to hurry up, if Erebos wouldn't be so patient with them to come out. Otherwise he'd already have scorched the entire Empire black like he did with those unimportant cities that Lord Tulius had been living at.

"Well, the next time will come surely. And that Gate seems to be interesting as well. I wonder what is on the other side." He thought loud to himself. It had been almost a month by now since the forces behind it were invaded. And if what the prisoners had said was true, it would surely not take much longer for them to come. After all, what human nation would simply accept the fact that their own people were kidnapped?

* * *

 **AND IT'S FINALLY DONE!? Well actually it was done some time ago, but I had exams and work and projects that all needed to be taken care off. Also I originally planned on uploading the sheets of the NPCs here, but if I had to do that as well I'd probably never come to update this story. (sheepish laughter)**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading and for waiting so long. I hope you enjoyed it, even when it honestly wasn't really worth the long time you have waited. I wish I could have wrote this down sooner. Like always write your comments, questions and suggestions in the reviews. Or write me a PM if you wish to adress something without having everyone see it.**

 **So see you hopefully next time and have a nice day ;)**


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